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The Impact of Presidential Campaigning on Midterm U.S. Senate Elections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Jeffrey E. Cohen ,
Michael A. Krassa  and
John A. Hamman
Jeffrey E. Cohen
Affiliation:
University of Illinois Urbana
Michael A. Krassa
Affiliation:
University of Illinois Urbana
John A. Hamman
Affiliation:
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
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Abstract

The conventional wisdom about presidential campaigning in midterm Senate elections is that presidential efforts lack impact or have negative impact. We discuss conceptual problems with the conventional view and offer an alternative that views presidential campaigning as strategic. We test this alternative and find support for it. Further, we find that presidential campaign efforts have a positive impact on the vote through the mobilization of nonvoters. Finally, in a significant number of cases, presidential campaigning may have been the margin of victory for candidates of the president's party. We discuss the implications of these findings on assessments of the president and relations with Congress during the second half of the term.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 85 , Issue 1 , March 1991 , pp. 165 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1991 

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