This paper proposes a party-based model of the dynamics of state primaries and tests it against what we take to be the principal alternative account of the dynamics of presidential primaries, namely, the theory of momentum. We also pull together several kinds of evidence in thumbnail accounts of...

The object of this essay is to define and discuss factional constraints and look at how presidents handle them. The central lesson to be drawn is that presidents often secure change by successfully taking advantage of possibilities in a context shaped by an alignment of forces created by...

We show evidence of prejudiced voting in the 2008 presidential election. We then go deeper to test if black threat theory explains some of this behavior. The theory finds empirical support, especially in the south. We also show that black concentration in an area works interactively with the...

This paper employs 2008 American National Election Studies (NES) data to explore whether parents are any different than their peers without children in terms of their views on important policy issues, their presidential vote choice, and their feelings towards Sarah Palin. We find that the very...

By all popular accounts social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook played a tremendous role in the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. To date there is little empirical work to substantiate popular claims and the national attention generated by Facebook as a tool for political engagement. This...

Since the 1940s, studies of American voting behavior have repeatedly shown that voters make ballot choices in presidential elections predominantly on the basis of long-standing party preferences inherited from families of origin. In accordance with these findings, party choices at the individual...

Correct voting (Lau and Redlawsk 1997) posits that vote choice can be evaluated in terms of its ‘quality,’ or the extent to which it aligns with an individual’s own fully-informed preferences, values, and priorities. Lau, Andersen, and Redlawsk (2008) further conclude that one’s ability...

The 2000 presidential election brought intense scrutiny to the American election process, resulting in a number of significant reforms. Some changes involved overhauling rules for audits and other administrative procedures. Others involved the ways in which voters record their votes. The latter...