A two-dimensional ‘basic structure’ of economic and cultural dimensions has often been used as a master frame to interpret party system change in Europe. This article questions whether such a common model of political dimensionality exists on the demand side as well. Using data from eight European democracies, this article shows that the dimensionality of voter attitudes is similar across Europe – that is, composed of comparable cultural and economic issue dimensions. However, the findings also reveal that the positioning of voters and socio-structural groups within this shared dimensional structure remains dependent on the national political context and the structure of the corresponding party system. Substantively, the study thus concludes that European political spaces are largely similar in their ‘dimensionality’ but more different in their ‘structuring’. By highlighting this distinction, the article expands extant knowledge of political structuration across Europe.
