[PDF] Third Party Candidates And Sophisticated Voters eBook

Author : Sungdai Cho
Publisher :
Page : 434 pages
File Size : 44,24 MB
Release : 1999
Category : Presidents
ISBN :

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This dissertation examines three important questions with regard to third party or independent candidates in American presidential elections. First, this dissertation tests standard theories of American voting behavior when citizens have a third option to exit from the two-party system. In particular, the spatial theory of electoral competition provides a useful guidelines and hypotheses. In the context of American presidential elections, this research posits that the effects of ideology and issues are largely dependent upon perceived spatial positions of third party candidates. The empirical evidence suggests that when the ideological position of a third party candidate is extreme, e.g., Wallace's perceived placement in 1968, the effect of the ideological distance is relatively large and the vote choice model explains a significant portion of the probability of voter choice of each candidate. In contrast when a third party candidate reveals a centrist tendency, e.g., Perot's perceived placement in 1992 or 1996, the effect of the ideological distance is substantially reduced. The empirical evidence also adds a more weight to these findings in that voters are more heavily influenced by nonpolicy factors such as partisanship, candidate personal qualities, and economic evaluations in the latter type of election. The second research question is related to the electoral strength of third party candidates. The empirical evidence suggests that voters' disaffection from the current two-party system is a key element of the third party success. Nonetheless, this paper finds that the substitutability of third party candidates, e.g., policy innovations and high quality candidacies, should be regarded as a more important source of third parties' electoral strength. The third research area investigates the electoral weakness of third party candidates. Extending Duverger's psychological effect, this paper examines the wasted vote argument or strategic voting among third party supporters in multicandidate American presidential elections. The statistical analysis finds that voters behave so as to maximize expected utility. The empirical evidence confirms that the net difference in expected utility between the first and second preferences significantly influences voters' sophisticated calculus of strategic choice. Overall, this research contributes to the existing knowledge of American voting behavior by providing in-depth analysis of electoral dynamics introduced by third party candidates. The theoretical framework as well as the empirical analysis suggests that a spatial model of multicandidate elections deserves further examination.

Author : Theresa Amato
Publisher : The New Press
Page : 402 pages
File Size : 22,55 MB
Release : 2009-06-09
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1595585079

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Ralph Nader’s former campaign manager “takes the biggest swing—not a jab, but a roundhouse punch—at America’s corrupt electoral system” (Phil Donahue). As the national campaign manager for Ralph Nader’s historic runs for president in 2000 and 2004, Theresa Amato had a rare ringside role in two of the most hotly contested presidential elections this country has seen. In Grand Illusion, she gives us a witty, thoughtful critique of the American electoral system, as well as a powerful argument for opening up the contest as if people and their daily lives mattered. While making the case for specific reforms in the United States’ arcane system of ballot access laws, complex federal regulations, and partisan control of elections, Amato also offers a spirited history of how third-party and Independent candidates have kept important issues on the table in elections past and contribute to our country’s political life. Even the most fervent Nader critics will think twice about Nader’s role in 2000, thanks to Amato’s trenchant factual analysis. Looking beyond the Nader story to campaigns waged by challengers John Anderson, Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan, and others, Amato shows how limiting ourselves to two candidates deprives our country of a robust political life, strips would-be contenders of their free speech and association rights, and cheats voters out of meaningful political choices. “Amato displays an encyclopedic knowledge of election law, and her recommendations for election reform, including a comprehensive plan for ‘Federal Administration and Financing of Elections,’ are crucial contributions to the debate over election law.” —Publishers Weekly

Author : Steven J. Rosenstone
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 330 pages
File Size : 37,36 MB
Release : 1996-04-07
Category : History
ISBN : 9780691026138

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1. Tables and Figures -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Constraints on Third Parties -- 3. Third Parties of the Nineteenth Century -- 4. Independents of the Twentieth Century -- 5. A Theory of Third Party Voting -- 6. Why Citizens Vote for Third Parties -- 7. Candidate Mobilization -- 8. Major Parties, Minor Parties, and American Elections -- 9. H. Ross Perot -- Appendix A: Minor Party Presidential Candidates, 1840-1992 -- Appendix B: Description and Coding of Variables.

Author : Scot Schraufnagel
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 175 pages
File Size : 43,90 MB
Release : 2012-04-23
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1136943846

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More than many areas of American politics research, studies of minor party competition and success are often overly driven by normative concerns that do not hold up to empirical scrutiny. This concise book presents a concerted effort to analyze the barriers in election law, such as ballot access restrictions and single member districts with a plurality rule, that prevent third parties from gaining a durable hold in American politics. Rather than trudge through yet another history of third parties in America or polemical arguments for minor party inclusion, Schraufnagel provides empirical grounding for the claims of third party backers. This thoughtful analysis demonstrates that the inclusion of third parties improves electoral participation rates and that third party involvement in the legislative process is linked to landmark legislative productivity. In the end, the work provides thoughtful suggestions on the types of reforms that would lead to greater third party success in American elections.

Author : Katherine M. Gehl
Publisher : Harvard Business Press
Page : 316 pages
File Size : 12,91 MB
Release : 2020-06-23
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 1633699242

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Leading political innovation activist Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter bring fresh perspective, deep scholarship, and a real and actionable solution, Final Five Voting, to the grand challenge of our broken political and democratic system. Final Five Voting has already been adopted in Alaska and is being advanced in states across the country. The truth is, the American political system is working exactly how it is designed to work, and it isn't designed or optimized today to work for us—for ordinary citizens. Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected. In The Politics Industry, business leader and path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter take a radical new approach. They ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes, such as term limits and campaign finance reform. The result: true political innovation. The Politics Industry is an original and completely nonpartisan guide that will open your eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all. THE INSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL INNOVATION The authors will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Institute for Political Innovation.

Author : James Nelson (Political Scientist)
Publisher :
Page : pages
File Size : 27,45 MB
Release : 2011
Category : Political science
ISBN :

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ABSTRACT: Third party presidential candidates often attract a great deal of attention, but there are multitudes of non-major party candidates at lower levels seeking to influence American politics. The following analysis will examine the contextual and individual-level causes of third party/independent voting in U. S. House and Senate elections. It will assess as well the relative success or failure of non-major party candidates at the district or state level. Chapter 2 will examine the selection of non-major party candidates by individual voters, independent of context via logit models. The influence of voters' evaluations of major party candidates on whether they select a third party/independent U. S. House or Senate candidate will be of interest. The models specify as well other demographic and attitudinal indicators, including the intensity of a respondent's partisanship, to assess their impact on vote choice. Models of vote choice in presidential elections developed by Rosenstone, Behr, and Lazarus (1996) influenced the choice of variables in these models. Their theoretical argument, as well as the one used in the following analysis, employs Hirschmann's (1970) Exit, Voice and Loyalty framework. Voters are loyal to the two-party system if they select a major party candidate, they are able to voice their concerns within that system, and they exit the two-party system if they choose a non-major party candidate. This framework will help examine the behavior of voters and electorates throughout the analysis. The behavior of electorates will be the subject of Chapter 3, where the models will determine which districts or states allocate more votes to third party/independent candidates in U. S. House and Senate elections. These models will also include the recent success of third party candidates for the office in question and the percentage of the presidential vote in the current election allocated to third party/independent candidates in the district or state. This inclusion will facilitate the examination of whether some jurisdictions are more likely to vote for third party candidates because they are less aligned with the parties than are others. Some districts may be more likely to select these kinds of candidates because their overall partisan attachments are not as strong as those of other districts. The models will also include the percentage difference between the vote shares of the major party candidates in the current contest for the office. In accordance with Burden (2007), less third party/independent voting is expected to occur in closer elections. The causes of the availability of third party/independent candidates will also be examined via Heckman (1979) selection models which will include measures of the signature requirements for ballot access and previous vote percentages of third party candidates for the office in question and the presidency. The inclusion of these percentages assesses whether district demographics show possible candidates that third party candidates can get large percentages of the vote in the state/district. These models will include the demographics of the districts to measure whether large concentrations of groups associated with the New Deal alignment, such as senior citizens and union members, deter non-major party candidates from running. The multi-level analysis in Chapter 4 will examine individual-level and macro-level factors that make voters more likely to select third party candidates. Logit-link models will examine these attributes and their impact on voting behavior; logit-link models can take into account variables measured at the district/state level (i.e., the percentage difference between major party vote shares) and the individual level (i.e., respondents' evaluations of major party candidates), and evaluate their influence on individual vote choice. The models will include individual-level variables from Chapter 2, as well as some macro-level indicators. The individual variables in the logit-link models will include: the last third party vote percentage for the office being contested, the current or most recent third party/independent presidential vote percentage, and the percentage difference between the major party candidates in the current election. These variables are expected to send the signal to voters that exiting (Hirschmann 1970) the two-party system is a viable choice in their area. Context is expected to condition whether a voter chooses a candidate who is not aligned with the major parties, independent of individual preferences. In the analysis, a respondent's evaluations of major party candidates are a significant predictor of his/her vote choice in all of the models that use this measure of a respondent's preferences. Also, higher current or most recent third party/independent presidential vote percentages make respondents more likely to select non-major party candidates in all of the logit-link models that use this variable to predict vote choice. Candidate preferences are very strong determinants of individual vote choice, and larger percentages of third party presidential votes in a district/state make respondents much more likely to select third party legislative candidates.

Author : David M. Farrell
Publisher : Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 17,19 MB
Release : 2008
Category : Political Science
ISBN :

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The contemporary electoral process is, in many ways, far more complex than it used to be. This book focuses on the growing involvement of non-party actors in the process of selecting candidates, as well as involvement during the campaign itself. These actors - interest groups, individual citizens, even certain political institutions - operate in the campaign environment independently of the parties and their candidates. They are not seeking to attain public office, nevertheless they interfere in the electoral process in growing numbers and with increasing intensity. For the most part, they seek to influence electoral outcomes to their advantage, and yet on occasions for less selfish reasons such as increasing the quality of the electoral process itself. Encompassing a broad range of countries - including several old democracies (the US, Germany, Britain, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Israel, and others) and one new democracy (Romania) - and combining extensive surveys with detailed case studies of recent elections, the chapters in this volume take stock of this new feature in the contemporary electoral process, along with its origins, forms, and consequences.

Author : Paul S. Herrnson
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 39,15 MB
Release : 2002
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780742515994

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In the wake of Election 2000 and the Ralph Nader factor, this collection of original essays by leading political scientists examines the possibilities for and performance of minor parties in the American political system. Looking at the rise and fall of the Reform Party and the seeming upsurge in Green Party prospects, the authors present evidence and opinion about the viability of a multiparty system in the United States. New York party politics and Congressional and state legislative elections add depth to our understanding of multiparty politics in action. A unique public opinion survey shows surprising variation in citizen's attitudes toward minor parties and multiparty politics nationwide. Will minor parties flourish or flounder in the 2004 election season? This volume offers a variety of views that every voter should consider. Visit our website for sample chapters!