Political and affective polarisation in a democracy in crisis: the E-Dem panel survey dataset (Spain, 2018–2019)

Includes supplementary materials for the online appendix.The E-DEM dataset provides information on the evolution of political and affective polarisation and electoral behaviour in the aftermath of the political crisis that shook the Spanish party system starting in 2014. The dataset is formed by a four-wave online panel survey of the Spanish voting age population between late October 2018 and May 2019. The four waves coincide with key moments in Spanish political life including local, regional, national, and European elections, as well as the conviction of Catalan secessionist leaders. It also covers the six-month period of the surge of Spain's new radical right party, Vox, spanning from shortly before its first major electoral success in Spain's most populous region, Andalusia, to its consolidation in the May 2019 European elections. The sample, which reflects the general population in terms of age, gender, and geographical province, consists of 1,484 panellists who completed the four waves, while the samples for individual waves are larger, ranging from 1,659 to 2,501 respondents. The data is especially useful for researchers who wish to explore dynamics of ideological and affective polarisation, factors that explain the rise of new parties, and for those investigating the evolution of political attitudes in general.The authors would like to express their gratitude to other members of the original research team that participated in one way or another in the design and implementation of the different waves of the survey: Javier Lorenzo, Sergio Martini, Melanie Revilla and Pedro Riera. The authors would also like to thank all respondents who participated in the survey. This research was supported by competitive grant funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity. Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia (CSO2016–79772-P, 2017–2019, Principal Investigador: Mariano Torcal). The views expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, State Program for the Promotion of Scientific and Technical Research of Excellence. The PI of the project is also grateful for the funding provided by the Advance Research Fellowship Programme ICREA, funded by the Catalonian Government