Response to Jacobson

Authors

  • Jeffrey M. Stonecash

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2374-7781.2003.24.0.245-248

Abstract

The purpose in presenting results about the trend in the vote proportions of House incumbents since 1946 is to prompt a reconsideration of the conventional wisdom. What seems very clear to others—that incumbents are increasing their vote proportions, resulting in declining competition—is not so clear to me. Jacobson offers a criticism of including uncontested results and cites two other trends to reinforce the conclusion that vote proportions are increasing.

References

Jacobson, Gary C. 2001. The Politics of Congressional Elections, 5th ed. New York: Longman.

Jacobson, Gary C. 2003. Party Polarization in Presidential Support: The Electoral Connection. Congress and the Presidency 30:1-36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07343460309507855

Mayhew, David R. 1974. Congress: The Electoral Connection. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Polsby, Nelson. 1968. The Institutionalization of the U.S. House of Representatives. American Political Science Review 62:144-68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003055400115692 http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1953331

Stonecash, Jeffery M., Mark D. Brewer, and Mack D. Mariani. 2003. Diverging Parties. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

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Published

2003-11-01

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Articles