Ideological determinants of party preference and voting intentions

This research conducted on a representative sample of the Croatian population was an attempt at answering to what extent ideological determinants, defined as basic factors of social attitudes, influence party preference and voting intentions at elections. The influence of ideological determinants was proven relatively limited and could not interpret more than 20% of the total variance of party preference and voting intentions, which indicates the possible importance of different non-ideological factors. Among ideological determinants the greatest significance has been given to ethnocentrism, religiousness and authoritarianism, which are mostly characteristic of advocates of right-wing (conservative) parties and their prospective voters. The research also indicated that in persons of higher education ideological determinants have a somewhat larger role in forming attitudes towards parties, but the proportion of the so-interpreted variance is nevertheless very modest.