A Rigged Game? How Candidate, Partisan, and Electoral Factors Shape Elite Support for the Party Nomination Process

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 681-694
Author(s):  
Caitlin E. Jewitt ◽  
Gregory Shufeldt

The 2016 presidential nominations revealed deep, yet distinct, divisions within each major party. These divisions persisted and permeated the general election campaign and were reflected in voters’ dissatisfaction with the candidates. Movements such as the “Bernie or Bust” supporters and the “Never-Trumpers” indicated that vocal portions of the parties were dissatisfied with the party nominees or the processes that selected those candidates. There were also indications that many party elites were not pleased with the nomination processes or the outcome; yet, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the extent to which party elites support the nomination process and their party’s nominee and what explains this support. By combining the 2016 Convention Delegate Study and an original dataset of the nomination electoral rules utilized by the states, we assess how candidate, partisan, and electoral factors shape delegate support for the nomination process and nominee. Our analysis reveals that candidate and party-centric explanations better explain delegate views toward the nomination process and nominee than factors related to the electoral context.

1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 573
Author(s):  
Dan Nimmo ◽  
Ivor Crewe ◽  
Martin Harrop

1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Evans ◽  
Anthony Heath

In their article ‘Constituency Characteristics, Individual Characteristics and Tactical Voting in the 1987 British General Election’, Niemi, Whitten and Franklin claim that in the 1987 general election ‘about one in every six voters … had tactical considerations in mind in deciding whom to vote for’. As they point out, this figure is far higher than Heath et al.'s estimate of 6.5 per cent of major party voters having ‘a tactical motivation for their vote’. It is also far higher than estimates obtained by other analyses of the 1987 election using aggregate data. In this Note we point to methodological weaknesses in Niemi, Whitten and Franklin's article which indicate that their estimate is unlikely to be a valid measure of tactical voting, at least of the concept as customarily understood by political scientists. Indeed, when looked at carefully, the evidence they present to support their expanded estimate of tactical voting serves only to re-affirm the original claims of Heath and his colleagues and the other conservative estimates of the prevalence of tactical voting.


2008 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 289-291
Author(s):  
Wayne P. Steger

Understanding why certain candidates get nominated is an important aspect of political scientists. This topic is a narrow one and influences a wider variety of subjects such as the political parties, general elections, and even the extent to which the United States is a democratic country. Presidential nominees matter—they become the foremost spokesperson and the personified image of the party (Miller and Gronbeck 1994), the main selectors of issues and policies for their party’s general election campaign (Petrocik 1996; Tedesco 2001), a major force in defining the ideological direction of a political party (Herrera 1995), and candidates that voters select among in the general election. This volume is devoted to presidential nominations and the 2008 nomination specifically.


2021 ◽  
pp. 106591292110282
Author(s):  
Yesola Kweon ◽  
Josh M. Ryan

How do electoral rules shape the substantive representation of traditionally underrepresented groups? Using an original dataset of introduced and passed bills in the Korean National Assembly, which has both single-member districts and proportional representation, we examine the extent to which institutions condition the relationship between lawmaker gender and the substantive representation of women. While women lawmakers engage in higher levels of substantive representation of women, proportional representation allows both women and men to introduce more women’s issue bills than their counterparts elected through single-member districts. Furthermore, legislators elected through proportional representation are more effective at achieving passage of women’s issue legislation when compared with those elected in single-member districts, and this effect is especially pronounced for men. Our findings show that electoral systems matter for the representation of marginalized groups and that proportional representation systems allow both female and male politicians to increase their substantive representation of women.


Author(s):  
Patrick French

Based on a personal journey through states in south, west, and north India, starting from Bengaluru and ending with Banaras, this chapter examines popular and elite conceptions of electoral politics during the 2014 Indian general election campaign. It argues that the National Democratic Alliance’s success was not monocausal, but arose from effective targeting of ‘winnable’ seats, high turnout by new voters, the professionalism of the BJP’s national campaign, and limits in the success of appeals to caste identity in favour of voter preference based on economic self-interest and aspiration. Using interviews with individuals, ‘On The Ground’ looks at the ways local, regional, or state factors can affect voting decisions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Guicciardi ◽  
M Quargnolo ◽  
G Moser ◽  
R D’Avenia ◽  
F Toth ◽  
...  

Abstract Background General elections represent a peculiar moment in which clear positions on relevant topics are more likely to emerge. Therefore, they may serve as a reference point to monitor policy development and to verify decision makers’ accountability. The aim of this study is to systematically examine the proposals on health issues in the manifestos of the 38 parties running in the 2018 Italian general election, comparing them with the contents shared on social media. Methods All the electoral manifestos published on the websites of each party and of the Italian Ministry of the Interior were collected and independently assessed by four evaluators. A list of 48 health themes grouped into 13 main domains into was then consensually created and used to classify the reported proposals. Parties’ official social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter) were subsequently screened for selected keywords to determine the frequency and the content of health-related posts. Results Thirty out of 38 parties included a specific section on health in their programmes or generally addressed healthcare topics. The most covered themes were health promotion and lifestyles, self-sufficiency of fragile populations, management of private healthcare and health workforce, although implementation strategies varied greatly and only in a few cases it was possible to compare them. On social media, health related posts represented less than 1% of the contents shared by any party during the election campaign. Conclusions In the 2018 Italian election campaign the majority of the parties’ manifestos explicitly addressed health issues but, apart from a few exceptions, significant differences were present in the themes and in the proposed solutions, mostly generic. On social media health was almost neglected. Despite its social relevance, health played a marginal role in the 2018 Italian election campaign.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document