National Forces in State Legislative Elections

Steven Rogers

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2016, vol. 667, issue 1, 207-225

Abstract: The race for the White House is at the top of the ticket, but voters will also choose more than 5,000 state legislators in November 2016. While voters elect and hold the president responsible for one job and state legislators for another, the outcomes of their elections are remarkably related. In analyses of elite and voter behavior in state legislative elections, I show that legislators affiliated with the president’s party—especially during unpopular presidencies—are the most likely to be challenged, and compared with individual assessments of the state legislature, changes in presidential approval have at least three times the impact on voters’ decision-making in state legislative elections. Thus, while state legislatures wield considerable policymaking power, legislators’ electoral fates appear to be largely out of their control.

Keywords: elections; state legislatures; presidential elections; state politics; coattails; challenger entry; voter behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:667:y:2016:i:1:p:207-225

DOI: 10.1177/0002716216662454

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