TY - JOUR
T1 - Congressional party defection in american history
AU - Nokken, Timothy P.
AU - Poole, Keith T.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - In this paper, we analyze the roll-call voting behavior of House and Senate members who changed party affiliation during the course of their political careers. We analyze members who switched during the stable periods of the three major two-party systems in American history: the Federalist-Jeffersonian Republican system (3d to 12th Congresses), the Democratic-Whig System (20th to 30th Congresses), and the Democratic-Republican System (46th to 106th Congresses). Our primary findings are that the biggest changes in the roll-call voting behavior of party defectors can be observed during periods of high ideological polarization and that party defections during the past 30 years are distinct from switches in other eras because of high polarization and the disappearance of a second dimension of ideological conflict.
AB - In this paper, we analyze the roll-call voting behavior of House and Senate members who changed party affiliation during the course of their political careers. We analyze members who switched during the stable periods of the three major two-party systems in American history: the Federalist-Jeffersonian Republican system (3d to 12th Congresses), the Democratic-Whig System (20th to 30th Congresses), and the Democratic-Republican System (46th to 106th Congresses). Our primary findings are that the biggest changes in the roll-call voting behavior of party defectors can be observed during periods of high ideological polarization and that party defections during the past 30 years are distinct from switches in other eras because of high polarization and the disappearance of a second dimension of ideological conflict.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=25844476213&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3162/036298004X201294
DO - 10.3162/036298004X201294
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:25844476213
VL - 29
SP - 545
EP - 568
JO - Legislative Studies Quarterly
JF - Legislative Studies Quarterly
SN - 0362-9805
IS - 4
ER -