Personality and (Negative) Partisanship in Canadian Federal Politics

This piece provides an in-depth examination of the relationship between personality and affective orientations (both positive and negative) towards political parties in a multi-party system. Using data from an original survey of nearly 1500 Canadians, it considers the questions of how personality traits are related to positive and negative partisanship, as well as how these traits drive partisanship towards the four major parties in English Canada’s national party system. It uses more comprehensive measures of personality than does similar previous work – specifically, it employs the HEXACO model of personality, measured through a 60-item battery. Data reveal that personality is an important driver or both positive and negative partisanship, that it effect the two types of partisanship differently and that different traits are associated with support for, or opposition to, each of Canada’s major political parties. These findings demonstrate the importance of personality for understanding partisanship, but these relationships are complex and party-specific in a multi-party setting.