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Ideological Realignment in the U.S. Electorate
Abstract
Using data from the 1976-1994 American National Election Studies and the 1992-94 ANES panel survey, this paper demonstrates that the outcomes of the 1994 and 1996 elections reflected a long-term shift in the bases of support and relative strength of the two major parties. This shift in the party loyalties of the electorate was based on the increased ideological polarization of the Democratic and Republican Parties during the Reagan and post-Reagan eras. Clearer differences between the parties' ideological positions made it easier for citizens to choose a party identification based on their policy preferences. The result has been a secular realignment of party loyalties along ideological lines.
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“The American electorate has thus come to be organized in two increasingly homogeneous parties, with a variety of social, cultural, economic, geographic, and ideological cleavages falling in line with the partisan divide (19, 50, 51).”
From How digital media drive affective polarization through partisan sorting (2022) · cites this paper as [50]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Abramowitz, A. I., & Saunders, K. L.
- Affiliations
- Emory University (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Politics
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 1998-08
- Volume
- 60
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 634-652
- ISSN
- 0022-3816 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-2508
- OpenAlex
- W2052977165
- Cited by
- 681
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 84 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 33 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 28 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 48
- FWCI
- 20.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Politics (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › American Political and Social Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
- Keywords
- ideological realignment, party identification, partisan polarization, Democratic Party, Republican Party, policy preferences, 1994 midterm elections, 1996 presidential election, Reagan era, American National Election Studies, electoral realignment
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