TRENDS IN PARTY SUPPORT

1. TRENDS IN PARTYSUPPORT POLI 423 N. R. Miller

2. American National Election Studies • ANES studies have been held in conjunction with every Presidential election since 1952 (and most off-year) Congressional elections. • A large portion of political science knowledge concerning U.S. electoral behavior is derived from this series of studies. • Each ANES is a survey of approximately one to two thousand randomly selected respondents who collectively constitute a representative sample of the American voting-age population at the time.

3. NationalElectionDayExit Polls

4. Party Identification and Ideology (ANES) • Party affiliation and identification • Generally speaking, do you think of yourself as a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, or what? [If partisan] Would you call yourself a strong Republican/Democrat or a not very strong Republican/Democrat? [If Independent] Do you think of yourself as closer to the Democratic Party or the Republican Party? • About 95% of the mass public identify themselves as Democratic, Republican, or Independent. • Ideology: • We hear a lot of talk these days about liberals and conservatives. Where would you place yourself in these terms, or haven’t you thought much about this? • About 20-25% of the mass public “haven’t thought much about this.”

5. Party Identification: 1952-2008

6. Dems, Reps, and Pure Independents: 1952-2008

8. Ideology: 1972 - 2008

9. Party ID and Ideology • Note the anomaly: • more Democrats than Republicans, but • more conservatives than liberals.

10. Party Identifi-cationand Ideology: 1970s vs. 2000s

11. Ideology at the Mass Level • Abortion and Health Insurance opinions are largely unrelated.

12. Ideology at the Mass Level Economic/New Deal Issues vs. Social/Cultural/”Family Values” Issues

13. Presidential Approval • “Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as President?”

14. Party Identification “Colors” Presidential Approval (and other opinions)

15. Obama Approval (Gallup)

16. Democratic Vote By Party ID

17. Turnout (Self-Reported) Voted by Party ID

18. What Is This Map?

19. 2008 Electoral Map (Red  Blue)

20. Voting by States • The Electoral College system means that geography (in particular, state boundaries) is important in President elections. • Historically, Presidential (and other) voting has exhibited sectional (geographical) patterns).

21. Sectionalism:1904

22. Cartogram 2008:Area Proportional to Electorate

23. Presidential Vote by County

24. County Bubbles (NY Times)

26. County Shifts: 2004-2008 (NY Times)

27. “Would You Vote for a Qualified Black Candidate of Your Own Party?” (Whites Only) Gallup 1958Gallup 2007 Yes 34% 93% No 58% 5%

29. We Would Expect Opinion to Vary with Age

33. Behavior vs. Survey Responses?

34. 2004 Electoral Map (Red Blue)

35. 2004 Pivot Map

36. The 2004 Battleground (± 3%)

37. 2000 Electoral Map

38. 2000 Pivot Map

39. 2000 Battleground

40. What Is This Map?

41. 1896 Electoral Map

42. A Much Quicker Electoral Flip:1956 vs. 1964

43. What Is This Map?

44. Median Household Income

46. What Is Going On? • “Wal-Mart [or Sam’s Club] Republicans”? • “Trust fund Democrats”? • What’s The Matter With Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America? (Thomas Frank) • Are we that far beyond the New Deal electoral alignment? • Actually -- No

48. Uses 2000 and 2004 National and State Exit Polls Plus ANES Andrew Gelman et al., “Rich State, Poor State, Red State, Blue State: What’s the Matter with Connecticut,” Quarterly Journal of Political Science (March 2007) The following charts are all from the 2000 National and State Exit Polls.