Voting in Four Elective Offices: A Comparative Analysis

In: American politics quarterly, Band 10, Heft 1, S. 5-30

Abstract

CPS survey data from 1952 to 1978 are employed in a comparative analysis of the effects of three predictors on voting for House, Senate, gubernatorial, and presidential candidates. Among the findings are: party identification is equally important in voting for all four offices, and despite a declining effect it is still the most important predictor of voting; presidential coattails especially serve as a vote guide for the less informed, and are more important in federal than state elections; incumbency is most important to the moderately aware voter, and only since 1966 has it been most important in House elections.