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Show 45 inverse relationship. In other words, a higher number of respondents flag immigration, the closest available issue option to the MCCP niche, as a top concerns in years where foreign population inflows have likely declined. While I am quite interested in what could be revealed with more advanced testing, not only for MCCP niches but also environmental niches, I am faced with data limitations. Eurobarometer, the most comprehensive source, which includes all the relevant EU states, only has data available from 2003 on for these polls. Considering my data points start in the 1970s, when I included the subjective variables in the models, even for both environmental and MCCP niches, there were far too many missing values, which dropped the number of observations (n) below 100. This will be a topic for future research, but cannot be resolved within the scope of this project. Environmental Conditions The counterpart "big" issue for environmental niche parties is environmental conditions. The specific environmental issues that have captivated the attention of environmental niche parties have shifted over time. In the 1980s, many parties emerged to challenge the production, shipping, and storage of nuclear waste. More recently, attention has shifted to the more wide-reaching problem of global warming and carbon dioxide emissions. The 2011 Japanese tsunami and subsequent nuclear accident at Fukushima, however, have reignited the nuclear issue in several countries like Germany, where there have been calls to phase out its nuclear program (McVeigh 2011; Reuters 2011). It is hypothesized that as environmental conditions deteriorate or there are growing concerns in regards to certain environmental issues, there is a greater likelihood |
