Collaborative Research: Strategic Redistricting and Its Political Consequences

这项合作研究关注的是了解选区重划对立法选举的影响。 标准的智慧认为，重新划分选区对选举的影响微乎其微;在党派利益上产生微小的变化，或者对保护现任者没有什么作用。 虽然人们已经对这个问题进行了大量研究，但研究人员认为之前的工作没有正确地模拟这些影响。 使用战略重划的正式模型，PI显示，从州立法者到州法官的各种行为者对如何重划选区线有重要影响。 虽然这是众所周知的，但他们也显示了他们的战略行为将对党派利益和现任优势产生影响的条件。 研究人员通过检查20世纪60年代发生的一系列重新划分的变化来测试他们模型的关键特征。 这是美国政治的一个关键时期，通常与在职优势的崛起有关。 研究人员发现，重新划分选区是改变党派优势和保护现任者的重要战略工具。

This collaborative research is concerned with understanding the impact of redistricting on legislative elections. The standard wisdom holds that redistricting has only a minimal effect on elections; producing tiny changes in partisan gain or doing little to protect incumbents. While a great deal of research has been undertaken on this problem, the researchers argue that previous work has improperly modeled the effects. Using a formal model of strategic redistricting, the PIs show that a variety of actors, ranging from state legislators to state judges have important effects on how redistricting lines are drawn. While this is well known, they also show the conditions under when their strategic behavior will have an impact on partisan gains and incumbent advantage. The researchers test crucial features of their model by examining the array of redistricting changes that occurred in the 1960's. This was a key period in American politics and has often been associated with the rise of an incumbency advantage. The researchers find that redistricting is an important strategic tool to change partisan advantage and to protect incumbents.