Set in their ways: explaining market cosmopolitans’ electoral behaviour

Abstract Chapter 6 draws on the literature regarding the role of affective identities in voting behaviour to develop and test the theory that market cosmopolitans retain emotive ties to other areas of the political space, which cause them to overlook social liberal parties. I theorize that, on the basis of their favourable socio-economic circumstances, market cosmopolitans display high levels of political satisfaction and sophistication, resulting in strong affective links to particular parties or ideological identities that pre-date their market cosmopolitan positioning. Crucially, controlling for these identities accounts for the relative lack of spatial voting among these voters, with non-partisans and those who do not identify with the left or right equally (if not more) likely to vote spatially than the rest of the electorate. As such, I conclude that this theory, combined with the previously established influence of valence, explains market cosmopolitans’ lack of support for social liberal parties.