The relationship between issues and individuals’ left-right orientation

The major body of the literature about individuals’ left-right orientation assumes that individuals’ values and attitudes towards different issues will, besides other factors, determine their position in the left-right dimension. Regarding values, it is assumed that these are stable over (a long period of) time and hence, affect individuals’ left-right orientation. But as issue preferences change over time, cross-nationally and in their importance for individuals, the relationship between issues and left-right orientation is less clear. We argue and show with data from the European Social Survey (2002/03) of the Netherlands that the relationship between the opinions about or the attitude towards issues and left-right orientation is moderated by issue salience which means the importance people assign to the issues. Those which are important for them affect their left-right orientation, while they may use the latter to form an opinion about an issue which is not important for them