Negative Partisanship in a Multi-party System: The Case of Canada

The origins and implications of partisan identification are well studied, but negative partisan attitudes – dislike for a particular party – have escaped such scrutiny. We argue that the concept of partisanship, especially in a multi-party system, is incomplete until negative sentiments are considered. In this paper, we refine the concept of negative partisanship (NPID) by providing an improved method of operationalizing it, examine its incidence and relationship with positive party identification in a multi-party system, and propose two theories of its origins. Our results, based upon data from five Canadian federal elections, indicate that studying NPID in a multi-party system requires a broader understanding of the mechanisms that lead to negative party attitudes than in a two-party system.