The Study of Presidential–House Elections

Jeffrey M. Stonecash

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139333733.004

2 - The Study of Presidential–House Elections

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2013

Jeffrey M. Stonecash

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Jeffrey M. Stonecash: Affiliation:
Syracuse University, New York

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Summary

The study of presidential and House elections developed slowly. The progression of analyses, in conjunction with the timing of major changes in American politics, combined to significantly affect what has become the focus of studies. The ability to examine presidential and House elections was limited for much of the first half of the 1900s because data were hard to acquire from individual states. Presidential results were being collected but only for states and counties. Lacking results by House districts, the early quantitative studies focused on aggregate-level results, either at the national or regional level. Apparently the first publication that gathered presidential and House results by House districts was that of Malcolm Moos, Politics, Presidents and Coattails, in 1952. He presented results for both offices by district for the years 1938–1950. That data set was incomplete because he could not get results for all states. For some states there were also no presidential results by House district in counties containing multiple districts.

By the mid-1950s data for all House districts were becoming more available, and subsequent studies focused on House elections over time. In 1957 Congressional Quarterly published an Almanac containing the first data on presidential and House elections by House district, covering the years 1952 and 1956. The availability of these data resulted in efforts to assess the relationship between presidential and House results, and soon there were numerous efforts to assess the extent of presidential coattails. The general conclusion was that the connection was declining.

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Type: Chapter
Information: Party Pursuits and The Presidential-House Election Connection, 1900–2008 , pp. 21 - 31

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139333733.004 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2012

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