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Incumbency and Competitiveness in City Council Elections: How Accurate Are Voter Perceptions?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2020

Cameron D. Anderson Open the ORCID record for Cameron D. Anderson [Opens in a new window] ,
R. Michael McGregor  and
Scott Pruysers
Cameron D. Anderson*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Room 4154, Social Science Centre, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5C2
R. Michael McGregor
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, 350 Victoria Street JOR700, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5B 2K3
Scott Pruysers
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Room 301 Henry Hicks Building, 6299 South Street, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4R2
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Incumbent city councillors have an almost insurmountable advantage in Canadian municipal elections. This article aims to improve our understanding of the municipal incumbency advantage by considering the ability of electors to correctly identify the two most competitive candidates in one's ward and the factors associated with being able to do so. Using survey data from the Canadian Municipal Election Study (CMES), we consider the case of the 2018 elections in Mississauga, a city with typically high rates of incumbent re-election. Survey respondents were asked to identify the two most competitive candidates in their local ward races. We find that comparatively few electors are able to recognize which challenger serves as the strongest threat to a sitting councillor, a finding that suggests that coordination problems may help to contribute to high rates of incumbent success. We identify several individual-level and ward-level correlates of correctly identifying the first-place and second-place finishers. We do note, however, that there is a significant amount of variation among the thousands of municipalities in Canada, so findings from this case should be tested in other settings, including larger or smaller cities where levels of information might be different.

Résumé

Résumé

Les conseillers municipaux sortants ont un avantage presque insurmontable dans les élections municipales canadiennes. Ce document vise à améliorer notre compréhension d'une telle prééminence - en examinant la capacité des électeurs à identifier correctement les deux candidats les plus compétitifs dans leur quartier, et les facteurs qui y sont associés. À l'aide des données de l'Étude sur les élections municipales canadiennes, nous examinons le cas des élections de 2018 à Mississauga, une ville où le taux de réélection des candidats sortants est généralement élevé. Les répondants à l'enquête ont été invités à identifier les deux candidats les plus compétitifs dans les courses de leur quartier local. Nous avons constaté que relativement peu d'électeurs sont capables de reconnaître quel candidat représente la plus grande menace pour l’élu en poste, ce qui laisse penser que les problèmes de coordination peuvent contribuer à des taux élevés de succès de son titulaire. Nous avons identifié plusieurs corrélats au niveau individuel et à celui du quartier pour identifier correctement les premiers et les seconds. Nous constatons cependant qu'il existe des variations importantes parmi les milliers de municipalités du Canada, et les résultats de ce cas devraient donc être testés dans d'autres contextes, y compris dans des villes de taille plus ou moins grande où les niveaux d'information peuvent différer.

Keywords

municipal electionscandidate competitivenessincumbency advantageCanadaélections municipalescompétitivité des candidatsavantage du titulaireCanada
Type
Research Article/Étude originale
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 53 , Issue 4 , December 2020 , pp. 853 - 871
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 2020

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Footnotes

This article underwent review and was accepted for publication prior to Cameron Anderson assuming the role of English-language co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Political Science on July 1, 2020.

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