Despite the fact that Switzerland is the country of direct democracy par excellence, research on citizens’ voting behaviour is currently underdeveloped in terms of continuity and methodological innovation. The project "Direct Democracy in Switzerland in the 21st century" (DDS21) addresses these shortcomings. It aims at contributing to a better understanding of citizens’ opinion formation and vote decisions in direct democracy in Switzerland, but also more generally. To that end, the project
examines the role of four crucial determinants that have been neglected in the scholarly literature so far: advertisements and digital media used in voting campaigns, as well as citizens’ moral attitudes and political sophistication. Specific research questions will be analysed within four working packages (WP). WP1 considers the campaign influence on individual mobilization and
voting behaviour by looking at advertisements. WP2 studies the use of digital media and its influence on citizen mobilization and opinion formation. WP3 analyses to what extent moral attitudes such as ‘just world beliefs’, ‘explanations for poverty’, as well as
intuitive ‘moral foundations’ affect vote decisions. WP4 will develop innovative measures of political sophistication and link them to news consumption, political attitudes, and decision-making strategies.
Data used by the WPs will be collected through an integrated multi-method design that combines classical surveys with an innovative feed-in panel design as well as focus groups. More specifically, a post-votation survey generates the basis for analysing vote decisions after each ballot. This survey then feeds into a long-term panel. Moreover, for two federal votes, a short-term panel will be implemented, with a pre-campaign and a post-campaign wave. Survey data will be combined with insights from focus groups. This longitudinal survey of citizens can be considered a major innovation in research on direct democracy, since such data do not exist neither in Switzerland nor abroad. The panel structure allows to study change and stability at the individual level across various ballot propositions. By focusing on the Swiss case, this project takes advantage of the frequency of popular votes in this
country that facilitates planning and conducting of empirical research on direct democracy. More precisely, data will be collected for twelve federal votes that take place during the project.
The project is carried out by researchers from five universities (Zurich, Bern, Basel, Lausanne, Geneva), FORS and ZDA. The leading house is the Center for Democracy in Aarau, and FORS is in charge of data collection and methodology. Moreover, project partners come from all Swiss political science department plus the Liechtenstein Institute.
