Kto kształtuje polską politykę – o aktywności i nieaktywności wyborczej Polaków
Who Shapes Polish Politics? On Poles’ Electoral Activity (or Inactivity)

Summary/Abstract: This article presents a comparison of three groups of citizens, which we have defined as ‘winners’ (those who voted for the parties forming the government), ‘losers’ (those who voted for the parties becoming the opposition) and ‘the absent’ (citizens who abstained from voting). Our goal is to answer the question of how these groups are similar in regard to ideological beliefs, preferences for specifi c sectoral policies, and socio-demographic characteristics. The results of our study are presented dynamically. The analyses are based on Polish General Election Study data (study editions of the years 1997, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2015). According to our findings, the views, values, beliefs, and preferences of non-voters are sometimes surprisingly consistent with the views of the citizens who did vote. This means that non-voters have been represented in Parliament by either the governing parties or the opposition parties. Hence, we argue that non-voters do not hold a position on the periphery of Polish politics. We also do not observe any trends demonstrating the increasing marginalisation of non-voting citizens in the Polish parliament.

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