The present research looks at personal following and voting in the Spanish local elections held in 2007. In doing so, the study addresses three principal questions, each focusing on a different dimension of the effects of political leadership on local voting. These are: What is the relative impact of leadership evaluation vis-à-vis other contingent and structural factors of a local, regional and national nature? What is the relative impact of the local party leaders vis-à-vis the leaders of the national and regional party strata? and Do leadership evaluations count differently for voters politically identified with particular parties?
KEYWORDS: • political leadership • local elections • political parties • democracy • Spain
Author Biography
Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Assistant Professor
