Information, Activation, and Electoral Competition in the 2002 Congressional Elections

Although uncompetitive races for the House of Representatives produce formidable challenges to long-held democratic ideals regarding popular control and meaningful citizen involvement, little is known regarding the significance of variance in district-level competitiveness for the perceptions and behaviors of voters. Do citizens know that the outcomes of most U.S. House elections are foregone conclusions? Does the actual political climate of the district influence citizen' perceptions regarding electoral competitiveness, and, ultimately, the decision to vote? Does campaign activity influence citizen' perceptions? Do these various perceptions and behaviors hinge in part on the citizen's level of political knowledge? These questions are addressed through analysis of data from a study that oversamples citizens located in competitive House districts during the 2002 midterm election.

[1]  G. Jacobson,et al.  Strategy and choice in congressional elections , 1981 .

[2]  Causes and consequences , 2021 .

[3]  Carole Jean Uhlaner,et al.  Electoral participation , 1991 .

[4]  Gary W. Cox,et al.  Why Did The Incumbency Advantage In U.S. House Elections Grow , 1996 .

[5]  Christopher Kenny,et al.  An Individual-Level Multiequation Model of Expenditure Effects in Contested House Elections , 1994, American Political Science Review.

[6]  Jeffery J. Mondak.  Reconsidering the Measurement of Political Knowledge , 1999, Political Analysis.

[7]  J. Krosnick,et al.  The Causes and Consequences of Response Rates in Surveys by the News Media and Government Contractor Survey Research Firms , 2007 .

[8]  G. Jacobson,et al.  The Politics of Congressional Elections , 1983 .

[9]  John J. Coleman.  The Distribution of Campaign Spending Benefits across Groups , 2001, The Journal of Politics.

[10]  M. Fiorina.  Some Problems in Studying the Effects of Resource Allocation in Congressional Elections , 1981 .

[11]  C. Franklin.  Eschewing Obfuscation? Campaigns and the Perception of U.S. Senate Incumbents , 1991, American Political Science Review.

[12]  Morris P. Fiorina,et al.  Congress, keystone of the Washington establishment , 1977 .

[13]  W. Stone,et al.  The Not-So-Simple Calculus of Winning: Potential U.S. House Candidates' Nomination and General Election Prospects , 2003 .

[14]  David B. Moon,et al.  Casework, Issue Positions, and Voting in Congressional Elections: A District Analysis , 1994, The Journal of Politics.

[15]  Richard A. Brody,et al.  Reasoning and Choice: Explorations in Political Psychology , 1991 .

[16]  John Zaller,et al.  Politicians as Prize Fighters: Electoral Selection and Incumbency Advantage , 1998 .

[17]  W. Rogers.  Regression standard errors in clustered samples , 1994 .

[18]  Diana Evans Yiannakis.  The Grateful Electorate: Casework and Congressional Elections , 1981 .

[19]  S. Keeter,et al.  What Americans Know about Politics and Why It Matters , 1996 .

[20]  V. O. Key,et al.  Southern Politics In State and Nation , 1984 .

[21]  D. Green,et al.  Get Out the Vote!: How to Increase Voter Turnout , 2004 .

[22]  L. Maisel.  From Obscurity to Oblivion: Running in the Congressional Primary , 1986 .

[23]  R. Huckfeldt,et al.  Political Parties and Electoral Mobilization: Political Structure, Social Structure, and the Party Canvass , 1992, American Political Science Review.

[24]  Christopher Kenny,et al.  A Dynamic Model of the Effect of Campaign Spending on Congressional Vote Choice , 1992 .

[25]  Michael C. Munger,et al.  Closeness, Expenditures, and Turnout in the 1982 U.S. House Elections , 1989, American Political Science Review.

[26]  David R. Mayhew.  Congressional Elections: The Case of the Vanishing Marginals , 1974, Polity.

[27]  Paul Manna,et al.  Congressional Campaign Spending and the Quality of Democracy , 2000, The Journal of Politics.

[28]  C. Frith.  Social cognition , 2008, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[29]  Michael Boss.  Economic theory of democracy , 1974 .

[30]  Steven J. Rosenstone,et al.  Mobilization, participation, and democracy in America , 1993 .

[31]  Jeffery J. Mondak.  Competence, Integrity, and the Electoral Success of Congressional Incumbents , 1995, The Journal of Politics.

[32]  K. Rapacki.  Getting Out the Vote , 1994, Science.

[33]  J. Zaller,et al.  The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. , 1992 .

[34]  K L Rapacki.  Getting Out the Vote , 2000, Science.

[35]  Paul M. Sniderman,et al.  Reasoning and Choice: The principle–policy puzzle: the paradox of American racial attitudes , 1991 .

[36]  Stephen Ansolabehere,et al.  Why is There so Little Money in Politics , 2003 .

[37]  Alan S. Gerber,et al.  Estimating the Effect of Campaign Spending on Senate Election Outcomes Using Instrumental Variables , 1998, American Political Science Review.

[38]  M. Lodge,et al.  The Responsive Voter: Campaign Information and the Dynamics of Candidate Evaluation , 1995, American Political Science Review.