Partisan bonds
Subtitle: political reputations and legislative accountability
By: Jeffrey D. Grynaviski.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 243
ISBN-13: 9780521764063
Subjects: United States. -- Congress -- Elections; Political parties -- United States; Voting -- United States; United States -- Politics and government
Description: "Political scientists have long painted American voters' dependence on partisan cues at the ballot box as a discouraging consequence of their overall ignorance about politics. Taking on this conventional wisdom, Jeffrey D. Grynaviski advances the provocative theory that voters instead rely on these cues because party brand names provide credible information about how politicians are likely to act in office, despite the weakness of formal party organization in the United States. Among the important empirical implications of his theory, which he carefully supports with rigorous data analysis, are that voter uncertainty about a party's issue positions varies with the level of party unity it exhibits in government, that party preferences in the electorate are strongest among the most certain voters, and that party brand names have meaningful consequences for the electoral strategies of party leaders and individual candidates for office"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction; 2. Theory; 3. Voter learning about parties; 4. Party unity and the strength of party preferences; 5. Reconciling candidate and party brand names; 6. Brand names and party strategy; 7. Conclusion.