Voters, Coalitions and Policy Representation in U.S. Senate Elections

这个项目从三个角度考察了美国参议院的代表权。这些是：(1)在个人选民决策层面，新的工作将改进对选民选择的解释，并评估国家选举研究报告中关于投票的某些问题；(2)为解释选举结果开发平行模型；以及(3)候选人行为和选举联盟随时间的变化的相互作用。这种多层次的方法旨在弥合投票和选举文献的微观和宏观差距。选民决策研究和立法决策研究没有结合在一起，而是在根本不同的层面上进行。对联盟的关注，选民如何加入和脱离联盟来回应候选人，以及联盟的变化如何影响国会现任议员的行为，有望在公民和他们选出的代表的行为之间提供必要的联系。通过将公民的微观决策与民选官员的宏观政策行为联系起来，这项研究应该会增加我们对美国代议制过程的理解--这是民主治理的基本过程之一。这项研究将审查1982-1990年间美国参议院的近100场竞选。数据来源包括国家选举研究、哥伦比亚广播公司/纽约时报选举日出口民调、家乡州报纸竞选报道的内容分析，以及各种政策指数的在任点名得分。

This project examines representation in the U.S. Senate from three perspectives. These are: (1) at the level of individual voter decisions where new work will improve explanations of voter choice and assess certain problems with reports of the vote in the National Election Studies; (2) development of parallel models for the explanation of election outcomes; and, (3) the interaction of candidate behavior and changes in electoral coalitions over time. This multi-level approach is designed to bridge the micro-macro gap of the voting and elections literature. Studies of voter decision making and studies of legislative policy making have not been integrated, but proceed at fundamentally different levels. The focus on coalitions, how voters join and defect from them in response to candidates, and how changes in coalitions affect incumbent behavior in Congress, promises to provide the needed linkage between citizens and the behavior of their elected representatives. By linking the micro decisions of citizens with the macro-level policy behavior of elected officials, this study should increase our understanding of the representative process in the United States - - one of the fundamental processes of democratic governance. The study will examine almost 100 races for the U.S. Senate over the period 1982-1990. Data sources include the National Election Studies, CBS/New York Times election day exit polls, content analysis of home state newspaper campaign coverage, and incumbent roll call scores on various policy indices.