Provincial Battles, National Prize? Elections in a Federal State

"What political parties should say to whom and how to say it is a constant puzzle. Often, what works with one cohort of voters does not work with others, and in the heat of a campaign impressions about pivotal events may be exaggerated. A challenge for studying elections is finding lessons that are enduring. In some ways, researchers ought to approach elections data as though they are analyzing weather, earthquakes or stock markets: the greatest value is when the objective is to identify patterns that can help us understand the next event. Otherwise, an election study is akin to analyzing a sporting event long after the results are known. In this regard, the authors try to extrapolate lasting observations instead of documenting the finer details of the 2015 Canadian general election. The well-edited, crisp writing combined with theory testing goes some way to achieving that objective." The Hill Times