Time is of the Essence?
Politics is often pulled between the demands of today and the needs of tomorrow. In their latest research, Matthew Barnfield, Karl Pike and Philip Cowley explore how voters in six different countries see their politics and its time horizons.
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Politics is often pulled between the demands of today and the needs of tomorrow. This tension between short-termism and long-termism generates complex trade-offs for politicians to navigate and voters to evaluate.
Our past research shows that British voters tend to understand the short term in politics as around two years and the long term as around ten – and that these perceptions shape their support for government policy. In our latest project, a six-country study, we compare these patterns across Europe.
We find broad agreement across the continent about the length of short- and long-term time horizons, but significant differences in how short- or long-termist national politics is perceived to be. Most notably, British voters stand alone among their European peers in tending to see their country’s politics as focused on the short term rather than the long term.
How do voters see their country's politics and its time horizons? Download as a PDF: Time is of the Essence Slide Deck.pdf [PDF 335KB]