ABSTRACT

In this chapter, we explore the congruence between the policy preferences of the national domestic political elites, the policy preferences of economic elites (identified as a distinct societal group) and the policy preferences of the general public in ten European countries over the years 2016–2017. We focus on the preferred ‘amount’ of Europeanization in three issue areas – security, economy and immigration. We assess policy congruence from three different viewpoints: correspondence, pattern and correlation. We have correspondence when one correlates, for example, the policy positions preferred by the public to those preferred by the politicians. Pattern looks at the distribution of opinions across the three targeted groups considered in this study. Correlation is studied at the dyadic level, with an exclusive focus on the party elites’ and party voters’ positions. Based on our data, we find in the period 2016–2017 a remarkable level of congruence between the integration preferences of the general public, the political elites and businesspeople, on all three topics here examined, namely, security, economy and immigration. Congruence, variously measured, is stronger on foreign and security issues than on economy and immigration and between the general public and businesspeople than with elites, but still we are far from crying wolf about the disconnect between the representatives and the public, measured at both the collective level (the nation as a whole) and at the dyadic level (party representatives and their voters).