The Collapse Of The Democratic Presidential Majority: Realignment, Dealignment, And Electoral Change From Franklin Roosevelt To Bill Clinton / Edition 1

by David G Lawrence

Overview

American electoral politics since World War II stubbornly refuse to fit the theories of political scientists. The long collapse of the Democratic presidential majority does not look much like the classic realignments of the past: The Republicans made no corresponding gains in sub-presidential elections and never won the loyalty of a majority of the electorate in terms of party identification. And yet, the period shows a stability of Republican dominance quite at odds with the volatility and unpredictability central to the competing theory of dealignment.The Collapse of the Democratic Presidential Majority makes sense of the last half century of American presidential elections as part of a transition from a world in which realignment was still possible to a dealigned political universe. The book combines analysis of presidential elections in the postwar world with theories of electoral change—showing how Reagan bridged the eras of re- and dealignment and why Clinton was elected despite the postwar trend.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813399812
Publisher:	Westview Press
Publication date:	08/29/1997
Series:	Transforming American Politics Series
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1520L (what's this?)

About the Author

David G. Lawrence is professor of political science at Fordham University and studies voting and elections, public opinion, and political participation.

Table of Contents

Preface — Introduction — The Collapse of the Democratic Presidential Majority — The Decline of New Deal Economic Cleavage: Social Class and Issue Salience — Decreasingly Latent Cleavages: Race and the Roosevelt Coalition from 1948 to 1972 — The Emergence of the Second Mini-Realignment: Ideological Extremity and Democratic Defection — The Fragile Extension of the Second Mini-Realignment: Retrospective Voting and the Politics of Prosperity — Mondale's Revenge: Ideology and Retrospective Evaluations in 1992 — Conclusion: Realignment, Dealignment, and Electoral Change from Roosevelt to Clinton — Postscript 1996 — Codes Used to Construct the Dichotomous Occupation Measure — Appendix 2 — Appendix 3 — Appendix 4 — Appendix 5 — Appendix 6 — Appendix 7

Editorial Reviews

Analyzes the pattern of Democratic presidential failures from post- WWII to the present, looking at factors involved in Democratic realignment including rise in affluence in the post-war years; race and civil rights issues; the Democratic party's perceived shift to the Left around 1966; President Carter's failures in domestic issues; and economic conditions in the early 1990s. Includes numerous tables. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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