Showing papers on "Voting behavior published in 1980"

Self-Interest vs. Symbolic Politics in Policy Attitudes and Presidential Voting

Abstract: This article contrasts short-term self-interest and longstanding symbolic attitudes as determinants of (1) voters' attitudes toward government policy on four controversial issues (unemployment, national health insurance, busing, and law and order), and (2) issue voting concerning those policy areas. In general, we found the various self-interest measures to have very little effect in determining either policy preferences or voting behavior. In contrast, symbolic attitudes (liberal or conservative ideology, party identification, and racial prejudice) had major effects. Nor did self-interest play much of a role in creating “issue publics” that were particularly attentive to, informed about, or constrained in their attitudes about these specific policy issues. Conditions that might facilitate more self-interested political attitudes, specifically having privatistic (rather than public-regarding) personal values, perceiving the policy area as a major national problem, being high in political sophistication, perceiving the government as responsive, or having a sense of political efficacy, were also explored, but had no effect. The possibility that some long-term self-interest might be reflected in either group membership or in symbolic attitudes themselves is examined. While such possibilities cannot be definitively rejected, problems with interpreting standard demographic findings as self-interest effects are discussed.

The Effects of Charges of Corruption on Voting Behavior in Congressional Elections

Abstract: This study assesses the electoral impact of charges of corruption on candidates in contests for the U.S. House of Representatives in five elections from 1968 to 1978. This assessment includes a consideration of the victory or defeat of alleged or convicted corrupt candidates, and an examination of the impact of corruption charges on electoral turnout and percentage of votes polled by the accused candidates. While most candidates accused of corruption are reelected, overall they appear to suffer a loss of 6–11 percent from their expected vote. The type of corruption charge is an important determinant of vote loss. Allegations of corruption appear to have little effect on the net turnout.

The American School in the Political Socialization Process

Abstract: This review addresses the question: What is known from empirical studies about the effects of schooling on the political socialization of American youth? School-level and classroom-level attributes are related to four political socialization outcomes: political knowledge, political attitudes and values toward society and politics, attitudes toward political participation, and participation in political or quasi-political affairs. The school curriculum is found to be effective in transmitting knowledge but not in influencing attitudes; social status of students influences these relationships. Classroom climate and student participation in school activities, and the school organizational climate were main factors found related to student political attitudes.

Voter turnout and the benefits of voting

Abstract: A model of voting behavior is developed that predicts that individuals vote if the absolute value of voting for or against a referendum exceeds the cost of voting. The results obtained from examining voting on city-county consolidation referenda and in New York state (1) provide support for the relatively untested prediction that turnout rises as the absolute value of the mean gains resulting from an electoral outcome increase and (2) augment the evidence that turnout rises as the probability of altering an electoral outcome increases and falls as the cost of voting rises.

Government in America: People, Politics, and Policy

Abstract: 1. Introducing Government in America. 2. The Constitution. 3. Federalism. 4. Civil Liberties. 5. Civil Rights. 6. Public Opinion and Political Action. 7. The Mass Media and the Political Agenda. 8. Political Parties. 9. Campaigns and Voting Behavior. 10. Interest Groups. 11. Congress. 12. The Presidency. 13. The Federal Bureaucracy. 14. The Federal Courts. 15. The Congress, the President, and the Budget: Politics of Taxing and Spending. 16. Social Welfare Policymaking. 17. National Security Policy Making. Issues of the Times

The mobilization of political discontent

Abstract: Although political discontent has risen substantially among Americans since the mid-sixties, there is considerable disagreement about the implications of this trend for individual political behavior and system performance. This paper develops a conceptual and theoretical framework within which this question can be examined. Two dimensions of political discontent, low diffuse support and external inefficacy, are hypothesized as motivations for political action when certain other conditions are met. In addition, because each of these orientations should be associated with different styles of political behavior, the mobilizing potential of political discontent may be greater than previous studies have indicated.

Voter Reaction to City-County Consolidation Referenda

Abstract: T HERE have been few studies on voting behavior in which explicit predictions from economic theory have been tested. Two major reasons are the inability (1) to identify precisely the beneficiaries of alternative election outcomes and (2) to directly link the beneficiaries, when known, one to one with a turnout population, so that a usable sample can be obtained. One aspect of these problems that can be surmounted, and which is the subject of our investigation, is the urban-suburban conflict that has been so prevalent in recent years: city-county consolidation. The property tax structure of local government in the United States enables communities to expropriate wealth from their richer residents. Our model, which incorporates this feature of property taxation, predicts that the median voter in a wealthy (for example, suburban) community is made unambiguously worse off, ceteris paribus, from merger with a poorer (for example, urban) community and that it is highly likely that the median voter in the poor community is made better off from the merger. The percentage of those voters voting in favor of city-county consolidation is then predicted to be a positive function of the difference between the mean (median) family income of the residents in the proposed government and the mean (median) family income of the residents in the current government. In this paper we develop and test this proposition in a model which is couched in a theory of voter behavior.

The Electorate Reconsidered

Abstract: The Electorate Reconsidered deals with important and concurrent changes in both the American electorate and the methods used to study it. The American voting public now shows a greater awareness of ideology and a new consistency of belief. It also shows a marked deterioration, however, of its faith in politicians and in its own political effectiveness. New concepts, new findings, and new methodologies come together to issue a broad challenge to the traditional picture of the American electorate. A provocative reconsideration of both theory and method for anyone interested in American politics, or in the study and surveying of electorates.

Value Cleavages, Economic Cleavages, and the Japanese Voter

Abstract: Both economic and value cleavages have been shown to have an important impact on the voting behavior of citizens in advanced industrial societies. Because these two cleavages are cross-cutting, a third dimension that measures the relative salience of value issues is necessary to predict voting choices more accurately. Using Japanese data. I derive independent measures of economic interests, of value preferences, and of the salience attached to value concerns and demonstrate their distinct effects on voting behavior. In order to refine Ronald Inglehart's assessment of the impact of value change on partisan realignments within major occupational strata, I formulate tests to determine the shortand long-term factors that affect change in value preferences and value salience. Finally, I assess the relationship between voting trends and the predicted long-term direction of change on both value dimensions.

Machine Politics in Transition: Party and Community in Chicago

Abstract: Since 1932 elections and decision making in Chicago have been dominated by the Regular Democratic Organization of Cook County, led for a quarter of a century by the late Mayor Richard J. Daley. The extraordinary longevity of this Democratic machine provides the basis for this penetrating investigation into the nature of machine politics and grassroots party organization. For three years, Thomas M. Guterbock participated in the daily activities of the Regular Democratic Organization in one North Side Chicago ward in order to discover how political machines win the support of the urban electorate. Guterbock's participant observation data, supplemented by a sample survey of ward residents' attitudes toward, and contacts with the machine, provide convincing evidence that the most widely accepted notions of how political machines work are no longer correct. Contrary to conventional wisdom about the machine, Guterbock finds that the party does not secure votes by doing "favors" for people, nor do services rendered determine actual voting behavior. Instead, party loyalty is governed by such factors as social status, educational achievement, and bureaucratic competence. Guterbock finds that Democratic loyalists are drawn disproportionately from the ward's lowest strata. Ironically, the characteristics of these loyal Democrats contrast sharpely with the characteristics of those most likely to use party services. What keeps the machine going, then? To answer this question, Guterbock takes us behind the scenes for a unique look inside the ward club. He shows how members develop loyalty and motivation beyond concern for their own pocketbooks. And he analyzes the public involvement of machine politicians in neighborhood affairs, describing the skillful sometimes devious ways in which they appeal to their constituents' sense of community. By focusing on the interplay of party loyalty and community attachments, Guterbock is able to explain the continued hegemony of Chicago's political machine and its enduring image of legitimacy."

The Columbia Studies of Personal Influence: Social Network Analysis

Abstract: In a strictly theoretical and methodological perspective, the Columbia studies of personal influence—conducted in the 1940s and early 1950s—are today of largely historical interest as particularly self-conscious and sophisticated examples of social-scientific discovery. Yet, there are indications that these studies are once more coming to scholarly attention and their long eclipse, so symptomatic of discontinuity in social-scientific research, may be coming to an end (Scheingold, 1973). There is a growing interest in describing and explaining electoral and related patterns of behavior in terms of the “social networks” to which people belong. The contribution of the Columbia studies to research on the effect of social networks in voting behavior and public affairs seems therefore worthy of retrospection.

The influence of state-level economic conditions on presidential elections

Abstract: Evidence from recent presidential elections indicates that voters behave as if they hold presidents accountable for changes in state-level economic conditions. Given the apparent political payoffs, it is almost a certainty that macroeconomic pump-priming (which affects state-level conditions on average) and certain inter-state redistributive policies would engender support from pragmatic incumbent presidents. The finding that state-level economic conditions can affect voting behavior is particularly relevant to the president already caught in an over-heated macroeconomic environment; for example, because of the peculiarities of the electoral college, Carter might improve his chances for re-election in 1980 by cutting some federal programs in Arizona and Nebraska (strong Ford states) and switching them to Illinois or Texas (closely contested states in 1976). Abolishing the electoral college and permitting popular votes to determine presidential-election outcomes would greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the president's political gains from such state-level redistributive policies. This study's findings also suggest a potentially perverse side-effect from the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) as amended in 1974. By legislatively equalizing the major-parties' presidential campaign spending, FECA has removed the natural fund-raising advantage of the incumbent president — especially Republican incumbent presidents. Removing this advantage could well increase the relative importance of other vote-getting activities — for example, the manipulation of national and state-level economic conditions. The findings for the 1972 election suggest that state-level campaign spending influences state-level voting outcomes. Since FECA has lowered major-party presidential campaign spending — which presumably has had the effect of raising the marginal productivity of campaign spending — the allocation of spending across states may be more important than ever in deciding presidential-election outcomes. Finally, the finding that state-level economic conditions affect voting outcomes raises the possibility that earlier studies which have found voter responses to national-level conditions may actually only be measuring the influence of state-level conditions (on average). Determining to what extent voters respond to national-level economic conditions after controlling for state-level conditions must await further analysis.

The Prospects for Issue-Voting in Contemporary Congressional Elections: An Assessment of Citizen Awareness and Representation

Abstract: A number of research reports on presidential elections have found evidence for increased issue voting in recent years This article extends the concern with such possible attitudinal and behavioral changes to midterm Congressional elections To do so, we focus on one particular requirement for issue voting—the existence of accurate knowledge of candidates' policy positions With data for 1978, we examine the existence and accuracy of constituents' perceptions of their own representative's positions in five issue domains and on a generalized liberal-conservative dimension We also consider the quality of representation in these policy areas by comparing representatives' voting with constituents' personal policy preferences The evidence indicates generally poor knowledge of candidates, but also that both candidates and citizens contribute to this situation Similarly, there is only modest convergence between the preferences of individual citizens and their representative's voting behavior in Congress on th

The Behavioral Component of Changing Partisanship

Abstract: This article examines the impact of prior voting behavior on future party identification using the CPS 1972-74-76 Panel Study. The probability of changed partisanship increases with the occurrence of defection among Republicans and Democrats, and with the occurrence of one-party voting among Independents. However, most partisan change is not preceded by nonreinforcing behavior. Several alternative models are offered which fit many of the remaining changers. The behavioral patterns that accompany the adoption of Independence are different from the patterns accompanying the adoption of partisanship in a manner confirming the notion of two dimensions in the party ID measure, partisanship and Independence.

Variability in Electoral Behavior: The 1960, 1968, and 1976 Elections

Abstract: By estimating path coefficients for voting behavior in the 1960, 1968, and 1976 elections, this research both fills in missing elections in Schulman and Pomper's (1975) original research on variability in electoral behavior and extends the analysis to include the 1976 election. Viewing all six elections from 1956 to 1976, it becomes obvious that issue voting was abnormally high in the 1964 and 1972 elections. Nonetheless, even excluding these two elections, comparison of the total direct and indirect effects on voter choices of issues, partisanship, and candidate evaluations shows that issues have been gaining importance, partisanship losing importance, and candidate evaluations holding steady.

Ideology, Constraint, and Public Opinion: The Case of Lawyers

Abstract: The responses of a sample of lawyers to 40 issue items were subjected to an oblique factor analysis to investigate the nature of the ideological structures that underlie political opinions. Of the eight dimensions present, three were found to be associated with the lawyers' use of the terms "liberal" and "conservative." When the lawyers' positions on these three dimensions were determined, five different liberal/ conservative ideologies were found; these were strongly related to party identification and voting behavior. While inter-item correlations among the issues was low across the entire sample, evidence for higher levels of constraint was found within each liberal and conservative ideology group. The conclusion examines this study's implications about the relationships among ideology, constraint, and cognitive complexity, and discusses the methodologies used in their assessment.

An Economic Analysis of the Determinants of Minimum Wage Voting Behavior

Abstract: IN a survey article McFadden observes that little work has been done in applying quantal choice analysis to the economic determinants of voting behavior.' This is particularly true in the case of minimum wage legislation. Only three papers have been done to date. A paper by Bloch looks at senate votes in 1966 and 1974 and concludes that only two variables are important determinants of voting: union membership and the wage level.2 The results of Silberman and Durden, on the other hand, based on the House of Representatives vote in 1973, indicate that labor union strength, region of the country, importance of small business, number of low-wage workers, and the teenage work force are all important determinants.3 Finally, Kau and Rubin4 perform a time series analysis of voting in an effort to explain an apparent anomaly in the Silberman and Durden results of a positive relation between voting and the number of low-wage workers.5 Their results offer little new insight into observed relationships. Each of the studies is seriously deficient in its approach of analyzing only the final vote on the legislation and excluding amendments that were intro-

Cross-Voting in the British House of Commons: 1945-1974

Abstract: OLITICAL PARTIES in the British House of Commons are highly cohesive. According to Richards, "Members are conditioned to act in party terms . . . . To vote against one's associates . . . is to act contrary to a life purpose."' And yet, Members of Parliament are not always party loyalists; constituency pressures and issue disagreements are among the reasons which lead them to cross-vote in the division lobby of the opposition. This paper investigates the frequency of cross-voting between 1945 and 1974. It examines some of the principal claims put forward by political commentators, and seeks to develop explanations of voting behavior which focus on the nature of a parliamentary system as well as the desire of backbenchers to exert influence over policy decisions. Because of the way the parliamentary system is structured, crossvoting has serious implications for both parties and rebels. Dissent by members of the Government party can bring down cabinets and precipitate elections.2 The threat of rebellion is also important when there is disagreement within the Cabinet,3 or when a Govern-

Discriminant Validity of Mirels' Personal and Political Factors on Rotter's I-E Scales: Does a Decade Make a Difference?

Abstract: This research attempted to replicate the finding obtained during the era of student protest of the independence and discriminant validity of Mirels' personal and political dimensions of internal vs. external control (I-E). Former Berkeley student activists and nonactivists completed Rotter's I-E Scale and provided information about their current political activities. Despite the reduced salience of the political arena in the late 1970s, young adults continue to distinguish between personal and political situations in estimating the degree of influence they have over life outcomes. In addition, a stronger belief in political efficacy still predicts greater political activity. However, greater externality in the personal sphere now also predicts a higher level of political involvement, suggesting that political action now serves an expressive as well as an instrumental function. The results uphold the durability of Mirels' earlier distinction between personal and political locus of control and are consisten...

Implicit Representations of Political Leaders: A Multidimensional Analysis

Abstract: Implicit cognitive representations of 20 salient political personalities (10 domestic, 10 foreign) were studied in two samples (N1= 121; N2= 129) over a 1-year interval. The aim of the study was to elaborate multidimensional models of voting preference by (a) representing the cognitive dimensions used by subjects in perceiving politicians, (b) contrasting perceptions of domestic and foreign leaders, (c) evaluating the effects of time, and (d) assessing individual differences between subjects on political perception. Judgments were analyzed by Carroll and Chang's (1970) Individual Differences Multidimensional Scaling (INDSCAL) procedure. Results showed that three implicit dimensions, evaluation, ideology, and leadership qualities, underlied perceptions of both domestic and foreign politicians. There were greater changes in perceptions of foreign and left-of-center leaders over the year than in judgments of domestic and right-of-center leaders; and individual differences such as attitudes, personality, and cognitive style were also significantly related to cognitive representations of politicians. Results were discussed in terms of their implications for predictive models of voting behavior, and the use of these methods in large-scale political surveys and polls is suggested.

Comparative Study of Local Government and Politics

Abstract: The present issue on Recent Changes in Urban Politics is published ten years after the formation of the Research Committee on Comparative Study of Local Government and Politics, one of the oldest and largest committees of the International Political Science Association. It provides an opportunity to look back at our experience during these years and to assess the impact of our work. In the past, the study of local politics had been confined by national boundaries. Even the most theoretically oriented studies did not aim at generalizations beyond the limits of a single national system. Local politics-unlike political parties, voting behavior, political culture, or nation-building-was not considered a proper subject for cross-national comparisons. Even when the term "comparative" was used in local politics, it referred to within nation rather than to between-nations comparisons (Clark, 1968). The result of this orientation was narrowness of theoretical perspectives as well as a tendency to present local political phenomena as if they were totally specific for every nation. A major reorientation came in mid-1960s with the launching of the International Studies of Values and Politics (ISVIP) project-"a joint collaborative research program of interdisciplinary social scientists from India, Poland, the United States and Yugoslavia to explore the interaction of social values and developmental change in local communities" (Jacob and Jacob, 1977: 231). This study was initiated in the early 1960s by Professor Philip E. Jacob, then at the University of Pennsylvania, and was organized in 1965 at an international round table meeting in Dubrovnik. In 1971 the international research was completed with

Partisanship, Voting Behavior, and Election Outcomes in Canada

Abstract: Perhaps the most salient feature of Canadian federal elections in the recent past has been the similarity of their outcomes. In the period since the end of World War II, the Liberal party has dominated the electoral arena, winning seven of ten general elections. This party has formed the government of Canada continuously since 1963, its share of the popular vote varying on average by only 4.8 percent over the last five elections. At present, however, the basis of that Liberal dominance is imperfectly understood since relatively few studies have been made of the psychological basis of electoral choice in Canada or of the relationships between individual voting behavior and election outcomes.' To enhance understanding of these phenomena, this study will examine the nature of partisanship in the Canadian electorate and the interplay between voters' partisan attachments and the stimuli provided by short-term forces generated during particular election campaigns. The pattern of electoral outcomes in Canada, together with the strength and salience of certain social cleavages (e.g., region, religion, ethnicity) might lead one to assume that voters' partisan predispositions are highly stable-reflecting, and in turn reinforcing, the enduring political significance of these cleavages. Yet, research in Canada and other political settings suggests that a note of caution may be in order, as interpretations of voting behavior in Western democracies have undergone substantial revision since the advent of the earliest American studies. The American Voter (1960), and some of its predecessors,2

Rationality and Voting: a Downsian Analysis of the 1972 Election:

Abstract: CENTRAL question in the study of voting behavior is the question of A voter rationality.1 If voters make rational candidate selections, then elections may serve as a control device to insure responsive public officials. Empirical research on voter rationality, however, reaches several different conclusions. Some studies2 find that voters fail to meet standards of rationality while others find most voters capable of rational vote choice.3 Underlying these research differences (other than a focus on different elections), are different perceptions of the type of behavior necessary to be considered rational. Some analysts4 set high standards to determine whether or not a voter is rational. These proponents of synoptic rationality5 require a voter to be interested in politics, well informed on the issues, have clear guiding principles on which to base the vote decision, and rationally (a means-ends calculus) select the best candidate in terms of these guiding principles. Under this conception of rationality, a rational vote maximizes the desired output (the voter's utility) in terms of the voter's preferences while using all possible information. In most cases these analysts find that voters lack the cognitive abilities to meet this standard. Other students of electoral behavior argue that the investment of effort required by synoptic rationality may not, in fact, be rational.6 If the costs involved in making a synoptic decision exceed the difference in benefits between the top two alternatives (candidates), then expending the time and resources necessary to make a synoptic decision would be a poor investment.

Designing Political Campaigns to Elect a Candidate: Toward A Social Psychological Theory of Voting Behavior

Abstract: A social psychological theory of voting behavior was developed in the context of designing political campaigns to elect a candidate. This theory was tested in the context of a presidential, senatorial, and congressional election. In general, the data were consistent with the theory across all three elections and individual difference variables. Implications for the design and evaluation of political campaigns were developed.

Comparing nations: The developed and the developing worlds

Abstract: This text on comparative politics surveys 4 developed countries -- the United Kingdom France West Germany and the Soviet Union -- and 4 developing countries -- Nigeria Egypt Tanzania and Chile. The text allows a comparison of the political institutions and political patterns and introduces students to nation-states that have not been traditionally treated in comparative politics courses. Each chapter focuses on a topic that is of traditional concern to comparative politics and is a major problem facing nation-states whether developed or developing. Initially attention is directed to the logic of comparison and to the history and cultures of the 8 nations. Focus is then on political participation the role and importance of political parties and different means of leadership selection. Important governmental institutions -- those that deal with the making and implementing of policy those that serve symbolic functions and those whose purpose is to resolve conflict -- are examined. The political performance of the 8 nation-states is evaluated with emphasis on their adaptability to economic social and political changes. The task of political actors is to allocate and distribute goods and services provide public order resolve conflicts between different groups and interests and meet and/or control the expectations and demands of the countrys citizens. What is different is the manner in which these tasks are performed and the emphasis that political actors place on the various tasks. Regardless of the emphasis no nation is immune from challenges problems and potential crises. Nations have both historical and cultural traditions that establish the setting in which the political game is played and these traditions help establish the outer limits of what is acceptable political behavior. The nations pattern of group life is another important factor that helps to explain politics. The political structures in each nation are designed to respond to the problems that face all nations and to meet the unique problems of the specific nation.