Candidates and Competition: Variability in Ideological Voting in U.S. Senate Elections

In choosing candidates to support in congressional elections, voters consider both policy and nonpolicy factors. However, the relative importance of incumbency or presidential approval versus candidates' ideological platforms likely varies across elections. Specifically, stiffer electoral competition should encourage ideology-based voting because candidate information is more plentiful. In contrast, incumbents' ability to garner votes simply by virtue of already holding office should depress proximity voting in elections with incumbents. Copyright (c) 2009 by the Southwestern Social Science Association.

Trust and Approval in the American Political System: Federalism, Separation of Institutions, and Partisanship

Federalism and separated institutions within levels of government in the American political system complicate citizen assessments of government. Using data from a statewide survey of Kentucky residents, we examine citizen trust in national, state, and local governments and citizen approval of state government institutions. We find trust to be highest in local government and approval to be highest of the state Supreme Court. Contrary to expectations, approval of the governor is not greater than that of the legislature and trust in the state government falls short of that in the national government. We contend that these patterns reflect problems facing the governor at the time of the survey rather than an ordering of trust and approval distinctive in Kentucky. Finally, in explaining both trust and institutional approval, we highlight the importance of partisanship and party control of governmental institutions

Parties, Institutional Control, and Trust in Government

Partisanship should affect evaluations of Congress just as it affects evaluations of the president, and these institutional evaluations should affect political trust. We argue that the relationship between partisanship and trust is dependent on partisan control of Congress and that much of party identification's influence on trust occurs indirectly through approval of governmental institutions. Copyright (c) 2006 Southwestern Social Science Association.