Left–right ideology as an inferential device in multiparty systems: Can citizens overcome low information by imputing parties' policy positions?

This study examines the extent to which knowledge about parties' ideological Left–Right positions can be used schematically by voters to impute these parties' stances on specific policy issues. Can Left–Right familiarity help citizens, whose knowledge of political and societal issues is often limited, to overcome the low information problem? Based on two Swedish panel studies, we show that - in contrast to the American two-party context – the least knowledgeable voters benefit most from using inferences based on parties' Left–Right locations. The effectiveness of schema-based deduction is thus dependent on its place within a given political culture. In the Swedish multiparty context, the Left–Right dimension is meaningful for most voters, and can be used schematically to partly alleviate a lack of knowledge. •Many voters have limited factual knowledge about political issues.•We investigate the heuristic role of the Left–Right dimension in Sweden.•Familiarity with L-R locations helps voters to impute parties' specific views.•Voters with less factual knowledge benefit most from such schematic inferences.•The schematic role of L-R depends on its place in a political culture.