Elites' and Voters' Attitudes towards Austerity Policies and their Consequences in Greece and Portugal

Abstract

This article analyses the attitudes of the political elite and voters in Greece and Portugal vis-à-vis the Troika bailouts, austerity policies and the attribution of responsibilities for the crisis. Using both elite and mass surveys with similar questions, the article explores to what extent the elites and voters share similar attitudes, what might explain possible differences between these two groups and between the two countries and what this information can tell us about the quality of political representation in Greece and Portugal. The differences between the countries are explained mainly by the severity of the crisis and austerity policies in each country, but also by the diversity of political conditions.

Keywords::

• Economic Crisis
• Bailouts
• Austerity Policies
• Political Representation
• Greece
• Portugal

Notes

^1. There were many articles in the international press; for example see Sandbrook (2011) and Donadio and Sayare (2011).

^2. According to predictions by The Economist (2013), Greece is classified as being at ‘very high risk’ of social unrest, alongside countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Portugal is in the group of countries at ‘high risk’.

^3. DIMAR is included in the parties that were in favour of the bailout agreement because it was one of the partners in the coalition government formed in the aftermath of the June 2012 elections, even though it joined the government under the pre-electoral promise of helping to gradually detach Greece from the bailout deal.

^4. In the Portuguese case, fieldwork for the voter survey was conducted between 11 September 2012 and 12 October 2012, while the candidate survey was conducted between 27 July 2012 and 31 May 2013. The timeframe of the fieldwork of the Greek voter study was from 19 October 2012 to 5 January 2013, while the candidate survey started at the beginning of October 2012 and ended in December 2012.

^5. The question was, ‘Now I am going to read out some more statements that other people have made about the economy. Considering each one, can you please tell me how much you agree or disagree with each (from strongly agree to strongly disagree: (a) The PS government and the right-wing parties (PSD and CDS-PP) – for Portugal – and the PASOK government – for Greece – were wrong to accept the bailout from the Troika agreement; (b) The PS government and the right-wing parties (PSD and CDS-PP)/the PASOK government should have been able to get much better terms on the loan from Troika; (c) We should “burn the bondholders”: that is, we should default on debt in the banks rather than take on more debt for the country; (d) We are all to blame for the economic problems in Portugal/Greece as we all got too greedy, and were living above our possibilities; (e) Those having difficulty in keeping up with their mortgage repayments should be assisted by financial support from the government.’

^6. For both Greek and Portuguese candidates and voters the question was, ‘In the past few years the economy has been in recession. How responsible, if at all, are each of the following for the poor economic conditions of the past two years? Extremely responsible, Very responsible, Moderately responsible, A little responsible, Not at all responsible: (a) The Government; (b)The European Union; (c) Bankers; (d) Membership in the Eurozone.’ In the Greek voter study some other forces and actors have been added. These are: the opposition parties, the ‘rating agencies’, the German government and the IMF. These are excluded from our analysis because of lack of comparability with the Portuguese data.

^7. Supporters of the radical-left are slightly less critical of the negotiation terms, probably because they consider that the Memorandum was a wrong decision per se. In other words, it does not make any difference to them whether or not better terms on the loan are achieved.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Eftichia Teperoglou

Eftichia Teperoglou is a Lecturer at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a Postdoctoral Researcher at Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology- Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (CIES-IUL). Her main research interests are in the fields of political and electoral behaviour, public opinion, European elections and comparative politics. She has published her work in international journals and in edited volumes and has a forthcoming book on the European elections in Greece.

André Freire

André Freire is an Assistant Professor with habilitation at Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), and Senior Researcher at CIES-IUL, Lisbon. He has been a coordinator and/or researcher of several national and international projects focused on political institutions (electoral systems, systems of government, party systems), political representation and mass political behaviour and attitudes. He has published his findings in several books, book chapters and national and international academic journals.

Ioannis Andreadis

Ioannis Andreadis is an Assistant Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is a member of the steering committee of the European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR) standing group on Public Opinion and Voting Behaviour in a Comparative Perspective, the Comparative Candidate Survey and a collaborator in the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems. He is a specialist on political web surveys and leader of the WebDataNet Task Force: Web Survey Paradata.

José Manuel Leite Viegas

José Manuel Leite Viegas is an Associate Professor with habilitation at ISCTE-IUL and also Director of the Doctoral Programme in Political Science. He has been a coordinator and/or researcher of several national and international projects related to the topics of political participation, political deliberation, social participation, political and social tolerance, electoral abstention, citizenship, political values, political culture and state intervention in the economy.