Macropartisanship: An Empirical Reassessment

1991 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. Abramson ◽  
Charles W. Ostrom
Keyword(s):  
Survey Research ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
National Election ◽  
Research Center ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Social Surveys ◽  
Electoral Outcomes ◽  
Term Variation ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The U.S

To evaluate the comparability of the Gallup and Michigan Survey Research Center measures for studying levels of partisanship among the U.S. electorate we compare the overtime distribution of partisanship and the correlates of partisanship using the results of Gallup surveys, the National Election Studies, and the General Social Surveys. Compared with the Gallup results, both the other two surveys reveal less short-term variation and also less total variation. Compared with the Gallup results, the National Election Studies partisanship results are less related to short-term electoral outcomes and do not appear to be strongly driven by short-term economic and political evaluations. Our analyses suggest that scholars should be cautious about using Gallup results to revise conclusions based upon analyses that employ the Michigan Survey Research Center party identification measure.

scholarly journals Electoral Reinforcement and the Dynamics of Partisanship Strength

2002 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Andrew J. LoTempio
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
Cumulative Effect ◽  
National Election ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Election Studies

The partisanship strength of individuals is investigated as dependent upon the cumulative effect of their electoral decisions. Using data from the 1956-1960 and 1972-1976 American National Election Studies (NES), voters who reinforce their party identification through loyal presidential vote choices over their life-cycle were found to experience gains in partisanship strength to a larger degree than those who vote for different parties or who do not vote. Additionally, short-term forces such as defecting from one’s party identification in a single election or casting a split-ticket vote hinder life-cycle gains in partisanship. The totality of the evidence shows that the dynamics of partisanship may be better understood if the absence or presence of electoral reinforcement is accounted for across several presidential elections and across the entire ballot in a single election.

scholarly journals Political Conversations in the United States: Who Talks to Whom, Why, and Why Not

1995 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 277-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Earl Bennett ◽  
Bonnie Fisher ◽  
David Resnick
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
National Election ◽  
Logit Analysis ◽  
Social Surveys ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The U.S

Although normative political theorists have argued that citizens talking with other citizens about public affairs is essential in a democracy, empirically oriented political scientists have tended to ignore political discussions. This paper draws on National Election Studies and General Social Surveys to plumb the extent and breadth of political conversations in the U.S. We also explore who talks about public affairs, with whom they speak, and why some people avoid discussing politics. A logit analysis of pooled National Election Studies from 1984 to 1992 shows that some factors typically thought to affect taking part in politics are not significant predictors of the probability that people will engage in political discussions, but other variables not normally included in participation models do affect talking about politics.

scholarly journals Redistribution Preferences, Inequality Information, and Partisan Motivated Reasoning in the United States

Societies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Clem Brooks ◽  
Elijah Harter
Keyword(s):  
Party Identification ◽  
Motivated Reasoning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
High Quality Data ◽  
Redistributive Policies ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
The U.S

In an era of rising inequality, the U.S. public’s relatively modest support for redistributive policies has been a puzzle for scholars. Deepening the paradox is recent evidence that presenting information about inequality increases subjects’ support for redistributive policies by only a small amount. What explains inequality information’s limited effects? We extend partisan motivated reasoning scholarship to investigate whether political party identification confounds individuals’ processing of inequality information. Our study considers a much larger number of redistribution preference measures (12) than past scholarship. We offer a second novelty by bringing the dimension of historical time into hypothesis testing. Analyzing high-quality data from four American National Election Studies surveys, we find new evidence that partisanship confounds the interrelationship of inequality information and redistribution preferences. Further, our analyses find the effects of partisanship on redistribution preferences grew in magnitude from 2004 through 2016. We discuss implications for scholarship on information, motivated reasoning, and attitudes towards redistribution.

Measuring the Southern Contribution to the Democratic Coalition

1987 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 567-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. Abramson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Survey Research ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Election ◽  
The Political ◽  
Unit Of Analysis ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Demographic Groups ◽  
Election Studies

Measuring the southern contribution to the Democratic coalition is an important task. To measure this contribution one must choose appropriate data and the appropriate unit of analysis for studying party coalitions in the United States. Two recent studies of party coalitions use the National Election Studies to estimate the southern contribution to the Democratic party, and these studies illustrate the problems one may encounter. This note demonstrates two points. First, survey research results may lead to erroneous estimates and it is preferable, where possible, to rely upon official election statistics. Second, the contribution of demographic groups to party coalitions should be assessed within the context of the political rules that make such coalitions meaningful.

Question Form and Context Effects in the Measurement of Partisanship: Experimental Tests of the Artifact Hypothesis

1994 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 945-958 ◽  
Author(s):  
George F. Bishop ◽  
Alfred J. Tuchfarber ◽  
Andrew E. Smith ◽  
Paul R. Abramson ◽  
Charles W. Ostrom
Keyword(s):  
Survey Research ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Research Center ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Question Form

Previous articles in this Review, including a Controversy in 1992, debated the comparability of alternative forms of the question about partisanship asked in Gallup and Michigan SRC surveys. Bishop, Tuchfarber and Smith contribute to this debate by reporting and analyzing evidence from 15 experimental surveys in Ohio in 1991–1993. They conclude that the distribution of partisan loyalties will generally be the same whether one uses the Gallup or Michigan Survey Research Center question and that, contrary to findings of Abramson and Ostrom, the Gallup form is no more responsive to short-term political forces than its SRC counterpart. In response, Abramson and Ostrom agree that during many time periods there will be little difference between aggregate levels of macropartisanship regardless of which measure is used. But they argue that during periods of political volatility the Gallup approach will accentuate differences, while the SRC version will attenuate them.

Realignment and Macropartisanship

2001 ◽  
Vol 95 (4) ◽  
pp. 953-962 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael F. Meffert ◽  
Helmut Norpoth ◽  
Anirudh V. S. Ruhil
Keyword(s):  
New Deal ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Presidential Approval ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Partisan Realignment ◽  
Electoral Equilibrium ◽  
The New Deal ◽  
The U.S

Aggregate party identification (macropartisanship) has exhibited substantial movement in the U.S. electorate over the last half century. We contend that a major key to that movement is a rare, massive, and enduring shift of the electoral equilibrium commonly known as a partisan realignment. The research, which is based on time-series data that employ the classic measurement of party identification, shows that the 1980 election triggered a systematic growth of Republican identification that cut deeply into the overwhelming Democratic lead dating back to the New Deal realignment. Although short-term fluctuations in macropartisanship are responsive to the elements of everyday politics, neither presidential approval nor consumer sentiment is found responsible for the 1980 shift.

The Ideological Foundations of Affective Polarization in the U.S. Electorate

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven W. Webster ◽  
Alan I. Abramowitz
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
National Election ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Close Connection ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
The Past ◽  
Opposing Party ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The U.S

Democratic and Republican partisans dislike the opposing party and its leaders far more than in the past. However, recent studies have argued that the rise of affective polarization in the electorate does not reflect growing policy or ideological differences between supporters of the two parties. According to this view, though Democratic and Republican elites are sharply divided along ideological lines, differences between the policy preferences of rank-and-file partisans remain modest. In this article, we show that there is a close connection between ideological and affective polarization. We present evidence from American National Election Studies surveys that opinions on social welfare issues have become increasingly consistent and divided along party lines and that social welfare ideology is now strongly related to feelings about the opposing party and its leaders. In addition, we present results from a survey experiment showing that ideological distance strongly influences feelings toward opposing party candidates and the party as a whole.

Canada Votes: A Quarter Century of Canadian National Election Studies

1992 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Gidengil
Keyword(s):  
Party Identification ◽  
National Election ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sociological Approaches ◽  
Election Studies

AbstractThis review essay examines the contribution of the Canadian National Election Studies to understanding vote choice in Canada. Analyses using both the sociological approach and the social-psychological approach are discussed. The essay starts with a review of the debates about the role of class, region and religion in Canadian voting and then goes on to discuss the applicability of the concept of party identification to Canada. An evaluation of both recursive and non-recursive models of vote choice follows. The review calls for social psychological approaches to take the social context of political choice more seriously and points to the need for sociological approaches to conceptualize social categories as live social forces.

scholarly journals A Comparison of Incumbency Across Institutions: A Look at the House, Senate, and Governorships

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 287-303
Author(s):  
Brad Lockerbie
Keyword(s):  
Economic Performance ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
National Election ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Incumbency Advantage ◽  
Gubernatorial Elections ◽  
The Past ◽  
Economic Expectations ◽  
Election Studies

Using the American National Election Studies of 1990, 1994, and 1998, we can see that there is an incumbency advantage for governors, senators, and members of the House of Representatives. There is, however, some variability to the magnitude of the incumbency advantage. Moreover, it appears to follow a rather sensible pattern. It appears to be strongest for members of the House and weakest for Governors. When looking at House elections, we can see that incumbency is more powerful than is party identification. When we look at senatorial and gubernatorial elections, the items appear to be more evenly matched. When we look at evaluations of the national parties performance and expectations of performance, the picture becomes much more muddy. Gubernatorial candidates consistently avoid being held accountable for their national parties past economic performance. Candidates for the House and Senate are largely able to avoid responsibility for the past economic performance of their national parties. Economic expectations, however, are modestly more related to vote choice.

American Religious Traditions, Orthodoxy, and Commitment in Public Opinion toward Torture

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-59
Author(s):  
H. Whitt Kilburn ◽  
Brian J. Fogarty
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Religious Commitment ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
National Election ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Evangelical Protestants ◽  
Election Studies

AbstractThe conventional wisdom on evangelical American Protestant support for the use of torture on suspected terrorists is incorrect. With data from the 2008 American National Election Studies survey, we specify the interactive influence of religious traditions on attitudes toward torture by religious commitment and belief orthodoxy. Only at low orthodoxy, and low to average commitment, are Catholics, mainline, and black Protestants more likely to support torture than the unaffiliated; the effect for evangelical Protestants is null. Greater commitment moves most traditions and the unaffiliated toward increased opposition to torture. Stronger orthodoxy, however, leads to support for torture only for the unaffiliated. The findings persist given controls for demographic characteristics, party identification, left-right self-placement, and authoritarian values.

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