Personal Economic Well-Being and the Individual Vote for Congress: A Pooled Analysis, 1980-1990

For nearly two decades congressional elections scholars have struggled to match individual-level findings for the pocketbook voting thesis with aggregate-level findings. Whereas strong and consistent support can be found for the pocketbook thesis in presidential elections with both individual-level...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political research quarterly 1996-09, Vol.49 (3), p.607-616
Main Authors: Romero, David W., Stambough, Stephen J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Congress
CONGRESS (ALL NATIONS)
Congressional elections
Economic Conditions
Economics
ELECTION
Elections to the lower chamber
Income
Incumbents
INDIVIDUAL AND INDIVIDUALITY
Political parties
Political partisanship
Political science
PRESIDENCY (ALL NATIONS)
Presidential elections
Self-interest
U.S.A
Unemployment
United States
Voter behavior
VOTING
Voting Behavior (1980-90)
Voting behaviour
Welfare
Wellbeing
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Summary:For nearly two decades congressional elections scholars have struggled to match individual-level findings for the pocketbook voting thesis with aggregate-level findings. Whereas strong and consistent support can be found for the pocketbook thesis in presidential elections with both individual-level and aggregate-level data, significant support has been found for this thesis in U.S. House elections with aggregate-level data only. The typical individual-level congressional elections study examines a single election or series of single elections. We take an alternative approach. By pooling elections from 1980 to 1990, this inquiry demonstrates that retrospective pocketbook assessments indeed influence the individual's vote in congressional elections. The benefit this result brings to the elections literature is symmetry between the findings for presidential elections and congressional elections regarding the decision rule voters follow when weighing economic conditions when they vote.
ISSN:1065-9129
1938-274X
DOI:10.1177/106591299604900308