Radical or aligned? Assessing issue congruence between youth wing elites, parliamentary candidates and voters in Norway

Party youth wings are generally said to be more ideologically extreme than their mother parties. Youth wing elites, however, can have career reasons to align with mother party elites and voters. Although there is a growing body of literature focusing on party youth wings and an established literature on issue congruence, few studies have compared the opinions of youth wing elites with those of their mother party elites and the electorate. We ask, in what ways and to what extent do youth wing elites align ideologically with party elites and the electorate? We draw on surveys to youth wing members in leading positions, voters and parliamentary candidates, and explore congruences on the ideological left-right scale as well as on the climate, immigration and centre-periphery issues. Youth wing elites are indeed more extreme than voters and party elites, but there are clear differences across issues and parties, suggesting that all youth wings have the potential to be clear correctives to their mother parties.