THE CHANGING AMERICAN VOTER REVISITED

Abstract

The state of knowledge regarding the relative influence of issues, parties, and candidates across time in presidential elections is confounded because researchers have typically employed standardized correlation coefficients. Employing unstandardized coefficients on openended presidential candidate evaluations for the 1952 to 1984 elections, this article examines the manner and extent to which the relationship between issues, party, candidates, and the vote have fluctuated over time. The results suggest, as have others, that party influence on the vote has declined. However, no evidence is found to support the assertion of an increase in issue influence on the vote decision. Candidate influence on the vote is found to be stable over time.