Win Some, Lose None? Support Parties at the Polls and in Political Agenda-Setting

Abstract

Support parties play a crucial, but under-exposed, role under minority rule. They secure the government’s place in office and exercise policy influence through legislative coalitions. This article examines whether support parties are unfettered by the liabilities of policy responsibility. Incumbents struggle with the cost of ruling in elections and in day-to-day party and issue competition. Support parties, lacking the formal responsibility of office, could arguably escape the negative consequences of policy influence. Two studies illustrate this mechanism. First, I find that Scandinavian support parties that exercise policy influence through participation in budget coalitions avoid electoral losses. However, unlike opposition parties from the government bloc that do not participate in budget coalitions, support parties are unable to increase their vote share. Second, by looking more closely at one support party and analysing its agenda-setting behaviour in response to media attention, I find that support parties, unlike incumbents and like opposition parties, are able to politicise ‘winning issues’ from the news. Despite occasional trade-offs due to their proximity to power, support parties are favourably positioned in party competition.