The 'Value Connection': MPs, Voters and Values in Three European Countries

This article investigates an unconventional dimension of representation: the degree of congruence between citizens' and MPs' values. Our main goal is to compare the values of the general public to those of the MPs through elite survey data (PARENEL) and national mass surveys. Several hypotheses deriving from the scientific literature are tested in order to examine the elite-public linkage. Our results confirm other findings: MPs are more polarised than their voters, they are more open-minded and do not replicate their voters' values whatever the electoral system at stake