Replication Data for: Balancing an Ideological Trade-Off: Electoral Appeal of Consistent and Responsive Party Positions

Political parties often face a trade-off between maintaining their core voter support and attracting new voters. This article examines how parties can strategically manage this tension by adopting distinct positional strategies for primary and secondary issues. While primary issues are closely tied to a party's ideological heritage and the reputation of the party and can appeal to their core voters, secondary issues offer greater flexibility for parties to shift their position and attract non core voters. Through a conjoint experiment with 2082 voters conducted in Flanders (Belgium), this study explores the electoral appeal of balancing consistent positions on primary issues with responsive positions on secondary ones. The design asks respondents to choose between and rate party manifestos from social democratic and liberal parties. Results show core voters prioritize consistent positions on primary issues, while non-core voters prioritize responsive positions on secondary issues. By combining these strategies, parties are able to overcome one of the central electoral complexities in electoral competition. This research underscores the value of multidimensional strategies for mainstream parties.