Abstract

The article discusses the evolution of the Italian electoral market. As far as the class cleavage is concerned, the data show the persistent weakness of this variable in explaining voting behaviour. The religious cleavage, than was very strong during the "first Republic", has lost a huge part of its predictive power due to change in the political supply. Also the explanations based on issues and values do not show a close relationship with voting. The "political dimension" is much closer to voting behaviour, and it raises the question of exploring its determinants.