Group Components of the Presidential Vote, 1952-1984

Mass Communication, Personal Communication and Vote Choice: The Filter Hypothesis of Media Influence in Comparative Perspective

“…Still, if significant segments of the audience of a newspaper or a TV channel media believe that this medium favored in its reporting a particular party or candidate one may conclude that some degree of political one-sidedness is present. The patterns of aggregate bias perceptions of media 3 Cf., e.g., Lipset/Rokkan 1967;Conover 1984;Richardson 1991;Miller/Shanks 1996;Erikson et al 1989;Listhaug et al 1994; Levine et al 1997;Inglehart 1990. audiences, then, may give us an indication of media's political leanings. Figure 3 shows how the readers of newspapers and the viewers of television news programs in the four countries perceived these media's favoritism toward particular parties or candidates.…”

Cheap seats: the Democratic Party's advantage in U.S. House elections

“…14 Second, from the ideological tilt of the parties favoring legislative Democrats, the diversity of the two parties' coalitions may account for Democratic success in congressional elections. The Democratic coalition has been larger and more diverse than the Republican coalition (Axelrod, 1972;Stanley et al, 1986;and Erikson et al, 1989). Its diversity has pre sented problems for Democrats in national elections in which one candi date must appeal to the varied interests of the coalition in order to hold the pieces of the coalition together.…”

“…This view is grounded in the relationship of socioeconomic class to both parti sanship and turnout. Those on the lower socioeconomic rungs are less likely to vote (Verba and Nie, 1972;Wolfinger and Rosenstone, 1980;Rosenstone and Hansen, 1993;and Leighley and Nagler, 1992), but those that do vote tend to identify with and to vote for Democrats (Axel rod, 1986;Stanley et al, 1986;and Erikson et al, 1989). The supposition is that if the nonvoting poor and working class were to show up at the polls, they would vote for Democrats at a rate similar to that of the poor and working class who now vote.…”

“…First, social characteristics and back grounds, though significantly related to political predispositions and vote choices, are far from determinative (Abramson et al, 1994;Stanley et al, 1986;and Erikson et al, 1989). There is a good deal of political diversity within most sociodemographic groups, and, while many groups have dis tinct political leanings, few would now argue, as the authors of The People's Choice did a half century ago, that "a person thinks, politically, as he is, socially" (Lazarsfeld et al, 1944, 27).…”

“…Compared to the Republican coalition, the Democratic coalition has consisted of sociodemographic groups that do not turn out at high rates. Democrats have been more likely to be on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder and also are more likely to be from southern states (Axelrod, 1972;Stanley et aL, 1986;Erikson et al, 1989). Lesseducated and lower-income citizens, as well as southerners, are less likely to vote (Wolfinger and Rosenstone, 1980).…”