What is your study about?
The aim of this study was to prepare the SORA voter transition analyses for all general elections since 1919, and to make them available to the population. 25 voter transition analyses were conducted for the election of the Constituent National Assembly, four general elections of the First Republic and the 22 National Council elections of the Second Republic. The results are presented in an interactive online tool at the House of Austrian History ("Haus der Geschichte"), which makes the development of democracy in Austria understandable from the point of view of the election results and voter dynamics.
How did your study come about?
The study combines expertise in content and methodology with relevant and comprehensible reporting to the media and the general public. A core element of these election analyses are the SORA voter transition analyses. Günther Ogris has always had the vision of analysing the history of Austria on the basis of voter transitions. They provide information about behavioural changes of the electorate and striking historical upheavals. On the occasion of the "100th anniversary of the Republic of Austria", the House of History was opened and an Advisory Board was founded. The development of Austria towards a democracy plays an important role in the House of History. As a core element of every democracy, elections represent a particularly exciting part of history. Thus our project idea was met with great approval, and was supported by the Federal Chancellery, the Advisory Council for the "Year of Remembrance 2018" and the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research.
What do you think is the most exciting aspect of your study?
We look forward to taking all those interested in politics and history on a historical journey of the voter transitions, in which they can interactively engage with our calculations, and thus grasp the dynamics of political events in a completely new way. There is a multitude of small and large insights to be explored. For example: Where do the voters of the Independent Election Party 1949 came from? When was the biggest transition from one party to another? In 1986, the Greens entered parliament, where did the voters come from? Supplementary image and video material made available by the ORF, the Parliament and the Austrian National Library gives visitors a better feeling for the time in question.
- After studying sociology at the University of Vienna and working in the field of market and opinion research, Corinna Mayerl has been an election researcher at SORA since 2014.
