Issue Alignment and the American Party System, 1956-1976

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Recent commentaries on the American party system have developed conflicting interpretations of the ways in which it changed during the 1960s and 1970s. Studies based upon individual behavior conclude that because of the intense conflicts of the 1960s, voters became more issue-oriented in their evaluations of the parties. Thus, an emerging basis for a "responsible" party system is visible in the changes of this period. System-level studies, on the other hand, point in exactly the opposite direction—to the growing instability of party alignments. The present study attempts to assess these interpretations in terms of the concept of "issue alignment," which refers to the degree to which citizens prefer the same party across a range of issues. Using data from national election surveys taken between 1956 and 1976, it is shown that issue alignment declined after 1956 and certainly did not increase during the 1960s and 1970s. Thus it appears that party alignments across issues are less stable presently than they were in the 1950s. It is suggested that we may have been exaggerating the degree of political change that occurred during the 1960s.

This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit: