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Discusses the general state of research in policymaking and state politics, featuring a typology of various research modalities.

AN ANALYSIS OF COMPETITION IN THE LOWER HOUSES OF 20 STATE LEGISLATURES SHOWS THAT IN ALMOST EVERY STATE THERE WAS A DECLINE OVER THE 1950-86 PERIOD IN THE PROPORTIONS OF MARGINAL SEATS AND OF CONTESTED SEATS. A REGRESSION ANALYSIS CONDUCTED IN 14 OF THE STATES SHOWS THAT THERE WAS LESS COMPETITION IN STATES WITH LARGER LEGISLATIVE RESOURCES, IN STATES USING MULTIMEMBER DISTRICTS, AND TO A SMALLER EXTENT IN STATES WHERE A HIGHER PROPORTION OF INCUMBENTS SOUGHT REELECTION. IN 6 OF THE 14 STATES, REAPPORTIONMENT ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO THE DECLINING PROPORTION OF MARGINAL DISTRICTS, THOUGH IT HAD LESS EFFECT ON THE PROPORTION OF CONTESTED RACES.

Scholarly inquiry concerning influences on electoral outcomes in the presidential nomination process, though extensive, has been conducted almost exclusively with data collected at the individual level of analysis. The Michigan model of normal vote analysis suggests that long-term influences measured at the aggregate level, such as the sociodemographic, economic, and ideological characteristics of the states, are also important in determining electoral outcomes. We present an aggregate-level analysis of state characteristics that affected the Hart, Jackson, and Mondale vote proportions in the 1984 Democratic caucuses and primaries. Our primary election models explain between 65% and 83% of the variance in candidate vote shares, with sociodemographic and economic factors as the leading indicators. In the caucuses, we find that campaign spending and sociodemographic influences are dominant in models that explain between 38% and 81% of the variance. We conclude with a brief discussion of what our findings mean for future Democratic candidates.

This study examines the sharing of public policy preferences between American state political party elites and party followers in the mass public on ten matters of state policy. Employing responses from about 1600 county political party chairmen in the 50 states and responses of party followers in several national-level surveys, we find meaningful differences between Democratic and Republican party elites, with the Democratic chairmen consistently more liberal on the ten matters of state policy than the Republican chairmen. Smaller differences in policy preferences, generally, are reported between the Democratic and Republican followers in the mass public. Spatially, the Democratic elite, the Democratic mass, and the Republican mass are grouped together near a centrist position on the policy questions, while the Republican elite is positioned at a distance in the conservative direction on most of the ten matters of state policy.

Development of a model for estimating PO in the 50 states can have a major impact on res in comparative Amer state pol. Until now the major studies in this field of pol'al sci have generally used aggregate electoral data, demographic data, fiscal data, or elite att'al studies to analyze state pol & policymaking. The res reported here was designed to give impetus to attempts to use nat'l surveys in such comparative res. With a technique for estimating PO from nat'l data, pol'al sci'ts can begin to examine empirically the relationship between public policy preferences & policymaking at subnat'l levels. AA.