Elections in Theory and Practice in the United States

This lecture was given in PS 240 on 9/15.

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Michigan Model of Voting This model, based on the book The American Voter published in 1960, assumes that partisan identification is entirely the result of the social influences of group membership and family influence. Partisan identification in turn determines policy attitudes of voters, their attitudes to group benefits, and their attitudes towards candidates. In short, socialization as a group member (i.e. gender, class, religion, age) combined with family influences determines partisan identification which determines an individual's vote.

Columbia School. This study focused on narrow groups, on the theory that sociological influences (family and friends) give a voter their political preferences. their text is 'the peoples choice', first published in 1944(rare), then in 1948, and the 1960 edition is what you can find on amazon.

Literary Digest. LD has been correct in their guess of who the next president would be through poles the magazine sent out from 1916-1932. in 1936 they got ahead of themselves and their pole was the largest it had ever been, 10 million. they were horrible off in their prediction that year.

The American Voter. 1948, 1952, and 1956 elections were the basis of this text, which was published in 1960. This text contained the michigan model of voting(see above). Their findings concluded that people cast their ballot primarily due to partisan identification. partisan identification-longterm stable psychological affiliation towards a party.

one of the authors of the american voter did a study following its publishing where he followed certain people over multiple years and learned that while party support remained constant, policy support swung rapidly.

The Changing American Voter. This text, published in '76, said that after the 1960s voters are now engaged and informed

The lecture also noted the necessity of making distinctions between U.S. elections before the 1930s when the secret ballot had fully spread in usage and the elections prior to then, which are not comparable to modern elections due to the absence of the secret ballot. The first major voting studies came after the 1930s.

pscphology-scientific study of voting.