Ideology, voters and parties: the ideological dimension of party competition in Argentina

The aim of this paper is to analyze the ideological dimension of party competition in Argentina. Herein we assume that the ideological link between parties and citizens is a key element in order to understand how democracy works, and to comprehend the political representation process. Two central aspects of the ideological dimension will be study: the ideological self positioning of citizens and their perceptions on the political parties position of the left -right scale; and the ideological positions offered by the partisan elites inside the Congress. Finally we will conclude about the degree of agreement between these two aspects. The perceptions of citizens about the self -position and about party position in the left -right scale will be gathered from the ENPEA public opinion survey conducted by the National University of San Martin, and the political party positions will be gathered from the nominal voting of 2015 year of the House of Representatives. Conclusions show a similar pattern between citizen's perceptions and partisan positions. But some differences remains regarding the degree of polarization.