Party Images and the American Electorate

Abstract

This article investigates the presence of widely recognized images of the two major political parties, using the Center for Political Studies' (CPS) open-ended questions on party likes and dislikes. The authors find that a very substantial portion of the CPS samples (from 1976 to 1992) can articulate substantive images of the parties, and that the content of these images is both specific and enduring. Democrats are seen as the party of inclusion and government spending, whereas Republicans are viewed as allies of the wealthy and opponents of government spending and intervention. The images change at the margins as major political events and experiences sink into the public consciousness. Multivariate analysis allows the authors to identify with some precision those who hold what they call dominant images of the parties and those who do not. In general, people who are strongly partisan, well educated, and follow politics are highly likely to view the parties in the way the authors have postulated. Roughly two thirds of likely voters articulate dominant images of the parties. The authors' findings help to clarify what the "running scorecard" concept of partisan affiliation means to most voters in the contemporary period. Party images provide a widely recognized and well-understood framework for evaluating candidates and parties.