Empir Econ DOI 10.1007/s00181-016-1156-7 Does stock market performance affect the government satisfaction rating in the UK? Sedef Sen 1,2 · Murat Donduran 1 Received: 21 June 2015 / Accepted: 13 July 2016 © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 Abstract In this study, we attempt to answer the question of whether stock market performance affects the government satisfaction rating in the long run in a sample period spanning 1984:Q1 to 2013:Q2 in the UK. We examine both the equilibrium relationship and the causality relationship between stock market performance and government satisfaction rating. The results indicate that the voters are sensitive to the economic shocks and hold responsible for the government. The empirical results confirm the responsibility hypothesis. Keywords Stock market · Government satisfaction rating · Co-integration and asymmetric causality JEL Classification C18 · E31 · G12 1 Introduction The economics and election nexus play a substantial role in the design of politicians’ own policies. Before declaring their own party programs, politicians want to know the influence of these programs on voter behavior. Politicians who notice the sensitiveness We are grateful to the Editor of Journal and reviewers for their substantial remarks and suggestions. B Sedef Sen sedefsen88@hotmail.com; sedefsen@yildiz.edu.tr Murat Donduran donduran@yildiz.edu.tr 1 Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey 2 University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA 123