Testing models of distributive politics using exit polls to measure voter preferences and partisanship

Valentino Larcinese, Snyder, Jr., James M. and Cecilia Testa

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This paper tests various hypotheses about distributive politics by studying the distribution of federal spending across U.S. states over the period 1978-2002. We improve on previous work by using survey data to measure the share of voters in each state that are Democrats, Republicans, and independents, or liberals, conservatives and moderates. We find no evidence for the “swing voter" hypothesis { that is, no significant association between the amount of federal funds a state receives and the fraction of independents or moderates in the state. We also find no evidence for the “battleground state" hypothesis - no significant association between the amount of federal funds and the degree of partisan balance in a state. Modest support is found for the \partisan supporters" hypothesis, which conjectures that politicians will favour areas that contain a large percentage of their core supporters.

Keywords: Electoral competition; swing voter; partisanship; election closeness; US Federal Spending. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 D78 H50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2006-04
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/3605/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Testing Models of Distributive Politics using Exit Polls to Measure Voters’ Preferences and Partisanship (2013)
Working Paper: Testing Models of Distributive Politics using Exit Polls to Measure Voters Preferences and Partisanship (2009)
Working Paper: TESTING MODELS OF DISTRIBUTIVE POLITICSUSING EXIT POLLS TO MEASURE VOTERPREFERENCES AND PARTISANSHIP (2006)
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