a party based on their ideological position. Accordingly, in a scenario where voters or parties have a weak or insufficiently pronounced ideological alignment valence issues are likely to dominate an election rather than position issues. Highlighting a comparison between valence issues and positional issues also does not mean that issues can only belong In those two categories, as both issue types may sometimes lurk behind one another or overlap, or, the issue at question may even transform from a position issue into a valance issue. Another way of thinking about the position issue versus valence issue dichotomy is to see voters as taking into account both position and valence issues when voting, as Egan has. Impact of valence issues on voters and politicians Voters When voters assess parties and politicians based on issue valence they learn about how parties and politicians relate to the issue in question over time. Therefore, it is hard for parties and politicians to change a voter’s long-standing perception about their own valence issue history. Furthermore, voters often equivocate parties with a single politician’s issue valence. However, when a parties valence issue history is not clear, for instance, when there is an election with a new or challenger party, then the voter is likely to make a decision based on position issues. A major crisis or political event is another way voters formulate lasting impressions about valence issues. In this instance the way a party addresses the crisis gives voters concerned with a valence issue that represents the crisis an idea of how competent parties are at handling this particular spotlighted valence issue. Other scholars have asserted that valence issues only matter to a specific kind of voter, these voters are non-ideological and only make their vote choices based on valence issues. Parties and politicians In an election purely focused on valence issues the candidate that is able to adopt the valence issue and demonstrate their competence at handling the issue wins. in such an election parties try to indicate to voters that they are better at realising a valence issue when compared to other parties via communicating their grasp of a valence issue during the election campaign. Yet unlike position issues politicians and parties have limited control over there command of a valence issue, especially when the valence issue concerns a politicians ascriptive characteristics. However, parties can try to overcome their poor reputation on a