Reconsidering "Reconsidering the Trend in Incumbent Vote Percentages in House Elections": A Comment

In: American review of politics, Band 24, S. 241-244

Abstract

Lambastes Jeffrey M. Stonecash's "Reconsidering the Trend in Incumbent Vote Percentages in House Elections" (2003). It is contended that his alternative measure of the average incumbent's vote share, designed to correct a distortion generated by omitting uncontested incumbents, creates a far more serious distortion. Rerunning Stonecash's analysis leads to results that contradict his central argument & suggest that there is no need to abandon the prevailing view that incumbent vote margins have increased since 1946. Previous research on the rising incumbency advantage is noted, & a particular inaccuracy in Stonecash's article related to David Mayhew's (1974) assertions identified. 1 Figure, 11 References. J. Zendejas