In april 1968 a nationwide sample was asked to rate political parties, politicians and itself on an Osgood scale running from extremely left to extremely right. The arithmetic means for the position of the parties (table 1) and of the politicians (table 2) show the familiar pattern, hut cell scores indicate that the meaning of the terms ’left’ and ’right’ is not unequivocal. In table 5 and 7 respondents’ rating of themselves and ratings of the parties they would vote for, are compared. Though absolute numbers in the subdivisions are small, there is some tentative evidence that the P.v.d.A. (Labour Party) and the A.R.P. (Anti Revolutionary Party) are seen as tending more to the left than their voters while the K.V.P. (Catholic People’s Party) and the V.V.D. (People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy) are seen as being more to the right than their voters. In May 1968 another nationwide sample was asked to define the terms left’ and ’right’. Thirty-six percent did not give an answer; the obtained answers show a variety of meanings, the term left’ being most frequently associated with ’socialist/communist’, the term ’right’ with ’Christian religion/religious parties’
