Political parties do represent their voters, but the degree of representation varies across issues and parties

Politicians are frequently castigated as being ‘out of touch with voters’, with populist movements of both the left and the right prospering in recent years at least in part due to this perception. But how valid is it? Russell Dalton looks at European political parties and in his study found that, on the whole, political parties do a decent job of representing the views of their constituents across a range of issues, even during times of acute crisis.