Rethinking the Normal Vote, the Personal Vote, and the Impact of Legislative Professionalism in U.S. State Legislative Elections

Legislators might rely on their partisan base for electoral support—what scholars call their normal vote—or they may cultivate support among nonpartisans through casework or constituency service—what scholars call a personal vote. Previous research frequently argues that legislators face a tradeoff...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:State politics & policy quarterly 2017-12, Vol.17 (4), p.465-488
Main Authors: Carsey, Thomas M., Winburn, Jonathan, Berry, William D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chief executive officers
Conflict
Congressional elections
Constituents
Corporate governance
Elections
Intellectuals
Legislators
Partisanship
Political campaigns
Politics
Professionalism
Redistricting
State laws
States
Voting
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Summary:Legislators might rely on their partisan base for electoral support—what scholars call their normal vote—or they may cultivate support among nonpartisans through casework or constituency service—what scholars call a personal vote. Previous research frequently argues that legislators face a tradeoff between pursuing the normal vote and a personal vote as traditionally defined, often focusing on resources used by incumbents to build their personal vote. In contrast, we argue that securing the support of partisans and nonpartisans alike should be evaluated based on how a legislator performs in office, and that the so-called normal and personal vote need not be viewed as in conflict. We evaluate our claims using data from state legislative elections following redistricting, focusing on legislative professionalism to measure the resources available to incumbents that they might use to cultivate a personal note.
ISSN:1532-4400
1946-1607
DOI:10.1177/1532440017739422