Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-2n9c9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T20:47:51.807Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Issues, Voter Choice, and Critical Elections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

W. Lance Bennett and
William Haltom
W. Lance Bennett
Affiliation:
University of Washington
William Haltom
Affiliation:
University of Washington
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The study of critical elections in American politics has been marked by a steady growth of knowledge and a remarkable consensus among practitioners in the field. Although minor quibbles have appeared from time to time, the work within each generation has set the agenda for the work of the next. The pioneering efforts of Key (1955, 1959), Schattschneider (1960), and MacRae and Meldrum (1960) produced clear descriptions of the phenomenon of critical elections, as well as operational definitions of the concepts. This group of studies paved the way for the systematic analysis and classification of elections in the work of Campbell et al. (1960), Sellers (1965), Pomper (1967), and Burnham (1968). The election patterns discovered in these studies, however, required explanation. The next wave of interest in critical elections, ushered in by the theoretical works of Burnham (1970) and Sundquist (1973), identified the essential variables governing electoral dynamics, but still did not explain precisely how these variables worked. That explanation is the next obvious step in the theory of critical elections, and it is the subject of this discussion.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Social Science History , Volume 4 , Issue 4 , Fall 1980, pp. 379 - 418
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1980

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Albanese, C. L. (1976) Sons of the Fathers: The Civil Religion of the American Revolution. Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Allen, W. V. (1896) “Western feeling towards the East.” North American Q. 162 (May): 588–593.Google Scholar
Allswang, J. M. (1971) A House for All Peoples. Lexington: Univ. of Kentucky Press.Google Scholar
Bennett, W. L. (1977a) “The ritualistic and pragmatic basis of political campaign discourse.” Q. J. of Speech. 63 (October): 219–238.Google Scholar
Bennett, W. L. (1977b) “Politics as play and serious business: a theory of political culture.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, DC (September 1–4).Google Scholar
Bennett, W. L. (1979) “Imitation, ambiguity, and drama in political life: civil religion and the dilemma of public morality.” J. of Politics 41 (February): 106–133.Google Scholar
Benson, L. (1961) The Concept of Jacksonian Democracy: New York as a Test Case. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Berelson, B. R., Lazarsfeld, P. F., and McPhee, W. N. (1954) Voting: A Study of Opinion Formation in a Presidential Campaign. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Blocker, J. S. Jr. (1973) “The perils of pluralism.” Canadian Rev. of Amer. Studies 4 (Fall): 200–205.Google Scholar
Blocker, J. S. Jr. (1975) “The triumph of elites.” Canadian Rev. of Amer. Studies. 6 (Fall): 210–216.Google Scholar
Bogue, A. G., Clubb, J. M., and Flanigan, W. H. (1977) “The new political history.” Amer. Behavioral Scientist 21 (November/ December): 201–220.Google Scholar
Boorstin, D. (1961) The Image. New York: Atheneum.Google Scholar
Bryan, W. J. (1896) The First Battle. Chicago: W. B. Conkey.Google Scholar
Burke, K. (1969) A Grammar of Motives. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.Google Scholar
Burnham, W. D. (1968) “American voting behavior and the 1964 election.” Midwest J. of Pol. Sci. 12 (February): 1–40.Google Scholar
Burnham, W. D. (1970) Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Campbell, A., Converse, P. E., Miller, W. E., and Stokes, D. E. (1960) The American Voter. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Campbell, A., Converse, P. E., Miller, W. E., and Stokes, D. E. (1966) Elections and the Political Order. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Cobb, R. W., and Elder, C. D. (1972) Participation in American Politics: The Dynamics of Agenda-Building. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Converse, P. E., Miller, W. E., Rusk, J. G., and Wolfe, A. C. (1969) “The ‘responsible electorate’ of 1968.” Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 63 (December): 1095–1101.Google Scholar
Destler, C. McA. (1947) “Agricultural readjustment and agrarian unrest in Illinois: 1880–1896.” Agricultural History 21 (April): 104–116.Google Scholar
Diamond, W. (1941) “Urban and rural voting in 1896.” Amer. Historical Rev. 46 (January): 281–305.Google Scholar
Edelman, M. (1964) The Symbolic Uses of Politics. Urbana: Univ. of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Edelman, M. (1971) Politics as Symbolic Action: Mass Arousal and Quiescence. Chicago: Markham.Google Scholar
Edelman, M. (1977) Political Language. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Etheredge, L. (1978) A World of Men. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Faulkner, H. U. (1959) Politics, Reform, Expansion: 1890–1900. New York: Harper & Row. Google Scholar
Fiorina, M. P. (1977) “An outline for a model of party choice.” Amer. J. of Pol. Sci. 21 (August): 601–625.Google Scholar
Fite, G. C. (1971) “Election of 1896,” pp. 225–263 in Schlesinger, A. M. Jr. et al. (eds.) The Coming to Power. New York: Chelsea House.Google Scholar
Formisano, R. P. (1971) The Birth of Mass Political Parties: Michigan 1827–1861. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Geertz, C. (1964) “Ideology as a cultural system,” pp. 47–76 in Apter, D. (ed.) Ideology and Discontent. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Glad, P. W. (1960) The Trumpet Soundeth. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Glad, P. W. (1964) McKinley, Bryan, and the People. New York: J. B. Lippincott.Google Scholar
Gusfield, J. R. (1966) Symbolic Crusade. Urbana: Univ. of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Hammarberg, M. (1975) “Indiana farmers and the group basis of the late nineteenth century political parties.” J. of Amer. History 61 (September): 91–115.Google Scholar
Hofstadter, R. [ed.] (1963) Coin's Financial School. Cambridge: Belknap.Google Scholar
Hollingsworth, J. R. (1963) The Whirligig of Politics. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Holt, M. F. (1969) Forging a Majority: The Formation of the Republican Party in Pittsburgh 1848–1860. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Jensen, R. J. (1971) The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888–1896. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Jones, S. J. (1964) The Presidential Election of 1896. Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Key, V. O. Jr. (1955) “A theory of critical elections.” J. of Politics 17 (February): 3–18.Google Scholar
Key, V. O. Jr. (1959) “Secular realignment and the party system.” J. of Politics 21 (May): 198–210.Google Scholar
Kleppner, P. (1970) The Cross of Culture: A Social Analysis of Midwestern Politics, 1850–1900. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Kleppner, P. (1972) “Beyond the ‘New Political History’: a review essay.” Historical Methods Newsletter 6 (December): 17–26.Google Scholar
Kousser, J. M. (1973) “Ecological regression and the analysis of past politics.” J. of Interdisciplinary History 4 (Autumn): 237–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kousser, J. M. (1974) The Shaping of Southern Politics. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Lane, R. E. (1962) Political Ideology. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Lasswell, H. D. (1965) World Politics and Personal Insecurity. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Leech, M. (1959) In the Days of McKinley. New York: Harper & Row. Google Scholar
Library of Congress (1961) The William McKinley Papers (microfilm). Washington, DC: Author. (Quotations from Series IV, Reel 81, Nos. 58–90.)Google Scholar
Lichtman, A. J. (1974) “Correlation, regression, and the ecological fallacy: a critique.” J. of Interdisciplinary History 4 (Winter): 417–433.Google Scholar
Lippman, W. (1922) Public Opinion. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Luebke, F. C. (1969) Immigrants and Politics. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
MacRae, D. Jr. and Meldrum, J. A. (1960) “Critical elections in Illinois: 1888–1958.” Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 54 (September): 669–683.Google Scholar
McConahay, J. B. (1968) “The effects of cognitive closure and confidence in ability to make attributions upon affiliation under threat.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of California at Los Angeles.Google Scholar
McCormick, R. L. (1974) “Ethno-cultural interpretations of nineteenth century American voting behavior.” Pol. Sci. Q. 89 (June): 351–378.Google Scholar
McSeveney, S. T. (1972) The Politics of Depression. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Merelman, R. M. (1969) “The dramaturgy of politics.” Soc. Q. 2 (Spring): 216–241.Google Scholar
Mount, F. (1972) The Theatre of Politics. London: Weidenfield & Nicholson.Google Scholar
New York Times (1896) McKinley campaign report. 4 October.Google Scholar
New York Tribune (1896a) McKinley campaign report. 2 October.Google Scholar
New York Tribune (1896b) McKinley campaign report. 7 October.Google Scholar
Nimmo, D. D. (1974) Popular Images of Politics. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Nimmo, D. D. (1978) Political Communication and Public Opinion in America. Santa Monica, CA: Goodyear.Google Scholar
Page, B. I. and Brody, R. A. (1972) “Policy voting and the electoral process: the Vietnam war issue.” Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 66 (September): 979–995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piaget, J. (1965) The Moral Judgment of the Child. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Pollack, N. (1962) The Populist Response to Industrial America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Pomper, G. (1967) “Classification of presidential elections.” J. of Politics 29 (August): 535–566.Google Scholar
RePass, D. E. (1971) “Issue salience and party choice.” Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 65 (June): 389–400.Google Scholar
Rogin, M. P., and Shover, J. L. (1970) Political Change in California. Westport, CT: Greenwood.Google Scholar
Rosenau, J. N. (1973) The Dramas of Politics. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Schattschneider, E. E. (1960) The Semisovereign People. Hillsdale, IL: Dryden.Google Scholar
Sellers, C. (1965) “The equilibrium cycle in two-party politics.” Public Opinion Q. 29 (Spring): 16–38.Google Scholar
Smith, M. B., Bruner, J. S., and White, R. W. (1956) Opinions and Personality. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Stevens, S. K. (1937) “The election of 1896 in Pennsylvania.” Pennsylvania History 4 (April): 65–87.Google Scholar
Sundquist, J. L. (1973) Dynamics of the Party System. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Swierenga, R. P. (1971) “Ethnocultural political analysis: a new approach to American ethnic studies.” J. of Amer. Studies 5 (April): 59–79.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. A. (1976) “The age of reform in America.” Historical J. 19 (March): 257–274.Google Scholar
Tufte, E. R. (1978) Political Control of the Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Turkle, S. R. (1975) “Symbol and festival in the French student uprising,” in Moore, S. F. and Myerhoff, B. G. (eds.) Symbol and Politics in Communal Ideology. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Ward, J. W. (1955) Andrew Jackson: Symbol for an Age. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Warren, S. (1968) The Battle for the Presidency. New York: J.B. Lippincott.Google Scholar
Whicher, G. T. [ed.] (1953) William Jennings Bryan and the Campaign of 1896. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath.Google Scholar
Wright, J. E. (1973) “The ethnocultural model of voting.” Amer. Behavioral Scientist 16 (May/June): 653–674.Google Scholar
Wright, J. E. (1974) The Politics of Populism: Dissent in Colorado. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Zolberg, A. (1974) “Moments of madness,” in Katznelson, I. (ed.) The Politics and Society Reader. New York: David McKay.Google Scholar