Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T11:38:33.595Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ideology, Issues, and the Spatial Theory of Elections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 1982

James M. Enelow  and
Melvin J. Hinich
James M. Enelow
Affiliation:
State University of New York at Stony Brook
Melvin J. Hinich
Affiliation:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the connection between ideology and issues in the minds of voters and the relationship between this connection and the electoral prospects of candidates engaged in two-candidate competition. Toward this end we examine the effects on electoral competition of either magnifying or collapsing the expected policy difference that voters associate with a fixed ideological difference. We find that magnifying this difference aids the incumbent, whereas collapsing it aids the challenger. We go on to point out how this second result provides an explanation for the electoral appeal of extremist candidates and an important insight into the question of state stability.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 76 , Issue 3 , September 1982 , pp. 493 - 501
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramson, P., Aldrich, J., and Rohde, D. 1982. Change and continuity in the 1980 elections. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press.Google Scholar
Alexander, Robert J. 1978. The tragedy of Chile. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Coughlin, Peter and Hinich, Melvin J. 1981. Median voter results with voter predictions, unpublished.Google Scholar
Davis, Otto and Hinich, Melvin J. 1966. A mathematical model of policy formation in a democratic society, Mathematical Applications in Political Science II, edited by Bernd, J.. Pp. 175–208. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.Google Scholar
Downs, Anthony. 1957. An economic theory of democracy. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Enelow, James M. and Hinich, Melvin J. 1981a. A new approach to voter uncertainty in the Downsian spatial model,” American Journal of Political Science, 25:483–93.10.2307/2110815CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enelow, James M. and Hinich, Melvin J. 1981b. An introduction to the spatial theory of voting, unpublished.Google Scholar
Enelow, James M. and Hinich, Melvin J. 1982. Nonspatial candidate characteristics and electoral competition, Journal of Politics, 44: 115–31.10.2307/2130286CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Germond, Jack and Witcover, J. 1981. Blue smoke and mirrors. New York: Viking.Google Scholar
Hinich, Melvin J. and Pollard, Walker 1981. A new approach to the spatial theory of electoral competition, American Journal of Political Science, 25: 323–41.10.2307/2110856CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orlow, Dietrich. 1973. The history of the Nazi party: 1933–1945. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Pomper, G., Baker, R. K., Frankovic, K., Jacob, C. E., McWilliams, W. C., and Platkin, H. A. 1981. The election of 1980, edited by Pomper, M. M.. Chatham, N.J.: Chatham House.Google Scholar