ABSTRACT
This chapter examines which survey measures provide the best explanation of party choice: the traditional battery on closeness as well as the simple feeling thermometer. It explores the explanatory power of issue voting and party identification. The chapter discusses party sympathy which alone predicts the voting behaviour of Irish voters or if one should also include other kinds of sympathies. It considers the sympathy models which investigate the impact of sympathy with parties, leaders and candidates on vote choice, although they did produce interesting information about the relative importance of different kinds of sympathy. Evidence from other countries confirms that the pattern is different from other developed democracies where the sympathy for both parties and party leaders is more important than the sympathy for local candidates. The chapter explains TDs which fulfil two important roles: as welfare officers and as local promoters and they spend much of their time doing local constituency work.
