Loyal voters in volatile elections: Partisanship and voting behavior in India

Partisan loyalties have been found to stabilize voting behavior in democracies with strongly institutionalized party systems. This article considers how party exit and weak partisanship—two characteristics of weakly institutionalized party systems—undermine partisanship’s stabilizing effect on voting patterns. Drawing on the Indian National Election Study from 2019 and an original survey on partisanship in northern India, we show that whereas partisan voting does not look high at first glance, partisans are likely to support their preferred party when it is actually on the ballot. Further, when their preferred party is on the ballot, partisans have higher turnout and vote in a more stable manner than non-partisans. These patterns are stronger among those with longer-standing or more intensely felt attachments. Our findings highlight the importance of taking both the electoral landscape and variation in partisanship strength into account when studying the effects of partisanship in new contexts.