Mobilizing Interests: Group Participation and Competition in Direct Democracy Elections

Damore, David F.; Nicholson, Stephen P.

doi:10.1007/s11109-013-9252-2

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…People who live in states with ballot initiatives and referenda appear to be more knowledgeable due to increased issue coverage in the media, increased campaign activity, and more opportunities for engagement (Tolbert, McNeal, and Smith 2003; Tolbert and Smith 2005). States that allow for ballot initiatives and referenda tend to have an increase in multiple types of participation (Damore and Nicholson 2014; Dyck and Seabrook 2010; Tolbert, McNeal, and Smith 2003). Direct legislation appears to increase a sense of government responsiveness in people (Bowler and Donovan 2002), whereas electoral participation increases perceptions of democratic processes (Kostelka and Blais 2018).…”

Section: Direct Democracy and Citizen Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monumental Decisions: How Direct Democracy Shapes Attitudes in the Conflict over Confederate Memorials

Johnson

Tipler

Camarillo

2019

APSC

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Americans are engaged in a heated, sometimes violent, debate over the fate of Confederate monuments. As communities decide whether to remove these monuments, elected and appointed officials typically have had the final say. What if instead of allowing elected officials to make such decisions, voters had the power? Would this affect how the public feels about the outcome, win or lose? We used a survey experiment to examine whether the mode of decision making affects public attitudes, testing the effects of a decision made by public referendum versus by a city council. We found that respondents view decisions made by referendum to be fairer and more legitimate and allow multiple perspectives to be heard. These results hold even for respondents who oppose the referendum’s outcome. Our results speak to the potential of direct democracy to enhance public acceptance of decisions, particularly when the public is divided.

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Section: Direct Democracy and Citizen Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monumental Decisions: How Direct Democracy Shapes Attitudes in the Conflict over Confederate Memorials

Johnson

Tipler

Camarillo

2019

APSC

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“…Through campaign finance records, they developed ideal points for incumbent and challenger candidates, as well as judicial ideal points in the common ideological space. In addition, contribution data from the NIMSP have been used to investigate questions regarding the connections between campaign finance laws and the behavior of donors (La Raja and Schaffner 2015), self-financed campaigns and electoral results in gubernatorial elections (Brown 2013), and policy issues and group mobilization in direct democracy elections (Damore and Nicholson 2014). This research follows the example of those studies by utilizing campaign finance records to explore the incentives for individuals to contribute larger or smaller sums in state supreme court elections.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual Contributions to State Supreme Court Campaigns: Context and the Impact of Institutional Design

Boyea

2017

State Politics Policy Q.

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Building upon existing theories of political fundraising and citizen participation in elections, this study examines contributions from individuals as an essential form of political participation in state high court elections from 2000 through 2012. Specifically, I explore the degree to which candidate characteristics, state political environments, and the attributes of state institutions affect the size of individual contributions. The findings of this investigation indicate the participation of contributors in judicial elections closely resembles the activities of voters. Like voters, contributors respond to contextual forces that increase or decrease salience and the political information available to state citizens. Of particular importance are state decisions to use partisan or nonpartisan election designs. Decisions by states to use partisan elections have important consequences for the generosity of contributors with larger donations directed to candidates seeking office in the most professionalized elective state supreme courts.

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“…Not all ballot measures are equal in terms of salience and content (Damore and Nicholson 2014). For every salient issue, such as medical marijuana, there are many measures on land use, judicial procedures, and ports that are rarely discussed over dinner tables and are not buttressed by advertising campaigns.…”

Section: Information and Votingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ballot measures also differ in how they come to the ballot. Initiatives are often salient and timely, and put on the ballot by interest groups who may not be able to achieve their policy desires through the legislative process (Gerber 1999) and who want to enshrine their positions in the constitution where they are more immune to future changes (Damore and Nicholson 2014). In contrast, legislative referrals—that are the most common form of ballot measures across the states (Bowman and Kearney 2017)—are often less salient, more complex measures enshrining in the constitution rights, structural changes or tax provisions that are more fundamental or far-lasting than statutes.…”

Section: Information and Votingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extra, Extra, (Don't) Roll-off about It! Newspaper Endorsements for Ballot Measures

Fahey

Weissert

Uttermark

2018

State Politics Policy Q.

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Voters often have difficulty making choices on the myriad state constitutional amendments they vote on each year. Without partisan cues, they turn to other sources for these low-salience, high complexity measures. One such source is newspaper endorsements. In this article, we look at newspaper endorsements of ballot measures in Florida over 20 years both on “no” votes and roll-off. We argue that endorsements' effect on “no” votes and roll-off differs in ways not previously appreciated. Newspaper endorsements have a positive impact on no votes, as expected from the information theory of voter participation. Endorsements have little impact on roll-off, which we posit is because roll-off voters are not likely to seek information from newspapers. Thus, newspaper endorsements serve to persuade, but not entice, voters to vote for ballot measures.

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Mobilizing Interests: Group Participation and Competition in Direct Democracy Elections

Cited by 9 publications

References 26 publications

Monumental Decisions: How Direct Democracy Shapes Attitudes in the Conflict over Confederate Memorials

Monumental Decisions: How Direct Democracy Shapes Attitudes in the Conflict over Confederate Memorials

Individual Contributions to State Supreme Court Campaigns: Context and the Impact of Institutional Design

Extra, Extra, (Don't) Roll-off about It! Newspaper Endorsements for Ballot Measures

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