Albert D Cover
Biographic Data
| ID | 966701 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Albert D Cover |
| GIVEN NAMES | Albert D |
| FAMILY NAME | Cover |
| SIGNATURE | COVER A D |
| AFFILIATIONS | State University of New York |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 737 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1974 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Ideological cohesion between congress and the president: Does the road to the white house matter
This study examines the impact of US presidential nomination politics on congressional‐executive relations. In particular, we pose the critical question of whether nomination reforms have had any systematic effect on the inter‐branch ideological gap. Using an indicator of liberal voting in Congress and a derived liberalism score for presidents, we analyse the ideological disparity between the branches over a 40‐year period from 1949 to 1993. Resu…
Voting Behavior in the US House and Senate: Regional Shifts and Contemporary Changes in Party Coalitions
If we want to know what is happening to political parties today, the answer depends in part on how we define the term `party' and in part on the time frame used for analysis. In this paper we focus on parties as voting coalitions in the US House and the Senate over the last 40 years. To assess the ideological placement and cohesiveness of each party in the House and Senate, we use adjusted scores issued by the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA…
The electoral impact of casework
There is no doubt that legislators assume casework has an important political impact, but the evidence that such service can be used to win electoral support from grateful constituents is mixed. The research reported here offers a model to assess the overall electoral impact of casework. The model suggests that while the impact does benefit the incumbent, it varies as a function of voter partisanship. In particular, the recognition effect of case…
The Electoral Consequences of Perquisite Use: The Casework Case
The belief is widespread that incumbents have enhanced their bid for reelection by using the perquisites of office skillfully. The evidence supporting this belief is mixed, however. This study begins by examining how a particular perquisite, casework, affects incumbent saliency and reputation among constituents. Within an appropriate research design, the study finds that an incumbent's ombudsman service creates a more positive evaluation of the i…
A Spatial Model of Roll Call Voting: Senators, Constituents, Presidents, and Interest Groups in Supreme Court Confirmations
We test a spatial model of Supreme Court confirmation votes that examines the effects of (1) the ideological distance between senators' constituents and nominees, (2) the personal ideologies of senators, (3) the qualifications of the nominee, (4) the strength of the president, and (5) the mobilization for and against nominees by interest groups. The data consist of the 1,475 individual confirmation votes from the 1955 nomination of John Harlan un…
Senate Voting on Supreme Court Nominees: A Neoinstitutional Model
We develop and test a neoinstitutional model of Senate roll call voting on nominees to the Supreme Court. The statistical model assumes that Senators examine the characteristics of nominees and use their roll call votes to establish an electorally attractive position on the nominees. The model is tested with probit estimates on the 2,054 confirmation votes from Earl Warren to Anthony Kennedy. The model performs remarkably well in predicting the i…
Ideological Values and the Votes of U.S. Supreme Court Justices
It is commonly assumed that Supreme Court justices' votes largely reflect their attitudes, values, or personal policy preferences. Nevertheless, this assumption has never been adequately tested with independent measures of the ideological values of justices, that is, measures not taken from their votes on the Court. Using content analytic techniques, we derive independent and reliable measures of the values of all Supreme Court justices from Earl…
Party Competence Evaluations and Voting for Congress
The President's Party in Midterm Elections: Going from Bad to Worse
Models of aggregate vote change in midterm congressional elections have largely ignored the role of short-term party evaluations. This paper argues in favor of including such evaluations in the analysis of midterm voting change. We find that short-term party evaluations link both presidential popularity and economic conditions with election results and help to account for the gap between the outcomes of first and subsequent midterm elections: sin…
Presidential Evaluations and Voting for Congress
elections constitute a referendum on administration's performance. Some studies in psychology and in political science have suggested that negative cues are likely to be more potent than positive ones as influences on individual opinions and behavior. This study focuses on question of whether negative evaluations of president are more powerful than positive evaluations in affecting turnout and vote choice in congressional elections. The study doe…
Party Competence Evaluations and Voting for Congress
Q NE of the most intriguing regularities in American elections is the loss of seats in the House of Representatives by the President's party in midterm elections. With but a single significant exception, the inparty has lost seats in every midterm since the two-party system was established in the last century. This regular pattern has naturally spawned a considerable volume of research (Campbell 1966; Hinckley 1967; Tufte 1975; Kernell 1977; Abra…
The Electoral Impact of Franked Congressional Mail
The franking privilege is a major congressional perquisite often assumed to produce electoral benefits for incumbents. In this study Professor Cover offers a model to assess the overall electoral impact of franked mail. He finds that while the impact does benefit an incumbent, it varies as a function of voter partisanship, and that while the recognition effect of a mailing is the dominant one for incumbent and challenger partisans, improved incum…
Surge and Decline in Congressional Elections
and theory as presented in Campbell's article. The second section consists of a reanalysis of survey data over the last thirty years to see whether there is any support for some basic propositions found in the theory. Finding support for only part of Campbell's theory, the paper will explore in the final section the utility of two other theories in filling the gaps left unexplained in Campbell's original formulation of the surge and decline theor…
Baby Books and Ballots: The Impact of Congressional Mail on Constituent Opinion
Studies have shown that members of the U.S. Congress attempt to exploit many of the perquisites of office for their electoral advantage, but the actual impact of this exploitation has never been clear. Thus a potentially significant part of the advantage of incumbency has been subject to more speculation than analysis. This study develops a simple model that can be used to determine the electoral significance of perquisite use by officeholders. I…
Contacting Congressional Constituents: Some Patterns of Perquisite Use
Over the past several decades, and especially since the mid-sixties, there has been a growing flood of mass mailings sent out by members of Congress. Efforts have been made to use aggregate data on congressional mailings to explain the increased electoral advantage of incumbency. These data mask enormous variation, however, in the aggressiveness with which members use mailings as a communications tool. In an effort to understand this variation be…
One Good Term Deserves Another: The Advantage of Incumbency in Congressional Elections
Previous research has demonstrated that the electoral advantage of incumbency in House elections increased during the mid-1960s. This paper examines two major hypotheses offered to explain this increase. One hypothesis holds that incumbents used their control over redistricting to create safe seats for themselves. Specific examples of this can be found, but no evidence suggests that incumbents generally took advantage of redistricting to boost th…
The Constitutionality of Campaign Expenditure Ceilings
Ideological Values and the Votes of U.S. Supreme Court Justices
It is commonly assumed that Supreme Court justices' votes largely reflect their attitudes, values, or personal policy preferences. Nevertheless, this assumption has never been adequately tested with independent measures of the ideological values of justices, that is, measures not taken from their votes on the Court. Using content analytic techniques, we derive independent and reliable measures of the values of all Supreme Court justices from Earl…
One Good Term Deserves Another: The Advantage of Incumbency in Congressional Elections
Previous research has demonstrated that the electoral advantage of incumbency in House elections increased during the mid-1960s. This paper examines two major hypotheses offered to explain this increase. One hypothesis holds that incumbents used their control over redistricting to create safe seats for themselves. Specific examples of this can be found, but no evidence suggests that incumbents generally took advantage of redistricting to boost th…
Senate Voting on Supreme Court Nominees: A Neoinstitutional Model
We develop and test a neoinstitutional model of Senate roll call voting on nominees to the Supreme Court. The statistical model assumes that Senators examine the characteristics of nominees and use their roll call votes to establish an electorally attractive position on the nominees. The model is tested with probit estimates on the 2,054 confirmation votes from Earl Warren to Anthony Kennedy. The model performs remarkably well in predicting the i…
A Spatial Model of Roll Call Voting: Senators, Constituents, Presidents, and Interest Groups in Supreme Court Confirmations
We test a spatial model of Supreme Court confirmation votes that examines the effects of (1) the ideological distance between senators' constituents and nominees, (2) the personal ideologies of senators, (3) the qualifications of the nominee, (4) the strength of the president, and (5) the mobilization for and against nominees by interest groups. The data consist of the 1,475 individual confirmation votes from the 1955 nomination of John Harlan un…
Baby Books and Ballots: The Impact of Congressional Mail on Constituent Opinion
Studies have shown that members of the U.S. Congress attempt to exploit many of the perquisites of office for their electoral advantage, but the actual impact of this exploitation has never been clear. Thus a potentially significant part of the advantage of incumbency has been subject to more speculation than analysis. This study develops a simple model that can be used to determine the electoral significance of perquisite use by officeholders. I…
Contacting Congressional Constituents: Some Patterns of Perquisite Use
Over the past several decades, and especially since the mid-sixties, there has been a growing flood of mass mailings sent out by members of Congress. Efforts have been made to use aggregate data on congressional mailings to explain the increased electoral advantage of incumbency. These data mask enormous variation, however, in the aggressiveness with which members use mailings as a communications tool. In an effort to understand this variation be…
The Electoral Consequences of Perquisite Use: The Casework Case
The belief is widespread that incumbents have enhanced their bid for reelection by using the perquisites of office skillfully. The evidence supporting this belief is mixed, however. This study begins by examining how a particular perquisite, casework, affects incumbent saliency and reputation among constituents. Within an appropriate research design, the study finds that an incumbent's ombudsman service creates a more positive evaluation of the i…
The President's Party in Midterm Elections: Going from Bad to Worse
Models of aggregate vote change in midterm congressional elections have largely ignored the role of short-term party evaluations. This paper argues in favor of including such evaluations in the analysis of midterm voting change. We find that short-term party evaluations link both presidential popularity and economic conditions with election results and help to account for the gap between the outcomes of first and subsequent midterm elections: sin…
Presidential Evaluations and Voting for Congress
elections constitute a referendum on administration's performance. Some studies in psychology and in political science have suggested that negative cues are likely to be more potent than positive ones as influences on individual opinions and behavior. This study focuses on question of whether negative evaluations of president are more powerful than positive evaluations in affecting turnout and vote choice in congressional elections. The study doe…
Surge and Decline in Congressional Elections
and theory as presented in Campbell's article. The second section consists of a reanalysis of survey data over the last thirty years to see whether there is any support for some basic propositions found in the theory. Finding support for only part of Campbell's theory, the paper will explore in the final section the utility of two other theories in filling the gaps left unexplained in Campbell's original formulation of the surge and decline theor…
The Electoral Impact of Franked Congressional Mail
The franking privilege is a major congressional perquisite often assumed to produce electoral benefits for incumbents. In this study Professor Cover offers a model to assess the overall electoral impact of franked mail. He finds that while the impact does benefit an incumbent, it varies as a function of voter partisanship, and that while the recognition effect of a mailing is the dominant one for incumbent and challenger partisans, improved incum…
Voting Behavior in the US House and Senate: Regional Shifts and Contemporary Changes in Party Coalitions
If we want to know what is happening to political parties today, the answer depends in part on how we define the term `party' and in part on the time frame used for analysis. In this paper we focus on parties as voting coalitions in the US House and the Senate over the last 40 years. To assess the ideological placement and cohesiveness of each party in the House and Senate, we use adjusted scores issued by the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA…
The electoral impact of casework
There is no doubt that legislators assume casework has an important political impact, but the evidence that such service can be used to win electoral support from grateful constituents is mixed. The research reported here offers a model to assess the overall electoral impact of casework. The model suggests that while the impact does benefit the incumbent, it varies as a function of voter partisanship. In particular, the recognition effect of case…
The Constitutionality of Campaign Expenditure Ceilings
The Constitutionality of Campaign Expenditure Ceilings
One Good Term Deserves Another: The Advantage of Incumbency in Congressional Elections
Previous research has demonstrated that the electoral advantage of incumbency in House elections increased during the mid-1960s. This paper examines two major hypotheses offered to explain this increase. One hypothesis holds that incumbents used their control over redistricting to create safe seats for themselves. Specific examples of this can be found, but no evidence suggests that incumbents generally took advantage of redistricting to boost th…
Contacting Congressional Constituents: Some Patterns of Perquisite Use
Over the past several decades, and especially since the mid-sixties, there has been a growing flood of mass mailings sent out by members of Congress. Efforts have been made to use aggregate data on congressional mailings to explain the increased electoral advantage of incumbency. These data mask enormous variation, however, in the aggressiveness with which members use mailings as a communications tool. In an effort to understand this variation be…
Baby Books and Ballots: The Impact of Congressional Mail on Constituent Opinion
Studies have shown that members of the U.S. Congress attempt to exploit many of the perquisites of office for their electoral advantage, but the actual impact of this exploitation has never been clear. Thus a potentially significant part of the advantage of incumbency has been subject to more speculation than analysis. This study develops a simple model that can be used to determine the electoral significance of perquisite use by officeholders. I…
The Electoral Impact of Franked Congressional Mail
The franking privilege is a major congressional perquisite often assumed to produce electoral benefits for incumbents. In this study Professor Cover offers a model to assess the overall electoral impact of franked mail. He finds that while the impact does benefit an incumbent, it varies as a function of voter partisanship, and that while the recognition effect of a mailing is the dominant one for incumbent and challenger partisans, improved incum…
Surge and Decline in Congressional Elections
and theory as presented in Campbell's article. The second section consists of a reanalysis of survey data over the last thirty years to see whether there is any support for some basic propositions found in the theory. Finding support for only part of Campbell's theory, the paper will explore in the final section the utility of two other theories in filling the gaps left unexplained in Campbell's original formulation of the surge and decline theor…
Party Competence Evaluations and Voting for Congress
The President's Party in Midterm Elections: Going from Bad to Worse
Models of aggregate vote change in midterm congressional elections have largely ignored the role of short-term party evaluations. This paper argues in favor of including such evaluations in the analysis of midterm voting change. We find that short-term party evaluations link both presidential popularity and economic conditions with election results and help to account for the gap between the outcomes of first and subsequent midterm elections: sin…
Presidential Evaluations and Voting for Congress
elections constitute a referendum on administration's performance. Some studies in psychology and in political science have suggested that negative cues are likely to be more potent than positive ones as influences on individual opinions and behavior. This study focuses on question of whether negative evaluations of president are more powerful than positive evaluations in affecting turnout and vote choice in congressional elections. The study doe…
Party Competence Evaluations and Voting for Congress
Q NE of the most intriguing regularities in American elections is the loss of seats in the House of Representatives by the President's party in midterm elections. With but a single significant exception, the inparty has lost seats in every midterm since the two-party system was established in the last century. This regular pattern has naturally spawned a considerable volume of research (Campbell 1966; Hinckley 1967; Tufte 1975; Kernell 1977; Abra…
Ideological Values and the Votes of U.S. Supreme Court Justices
It is commonly assumed that Supreme Court justices' votes largely reflect their attitudes, values, or personal policy preferences. Nevertheless, this assumption has never been adequately tested with independent measures of the ideological values of justices, that is, measures not taken from their votes on the Court. Using content analytic techniques, we derive independent and reliable measures of the values of all Supreme Court justices from Earl…
Senate Voting on Supreme Court Nominees: A Neoinstitutional Model
We develop and test a neoinstitutional model of Senate roll call voting on nominees to the Supreme Court. The statistical model assumes that Senators examine the characteristics of nominees and use their roll call votes to establish an electorally attractive position on the nominees. The model is tested with probit estimates on the 2,054 confirmation votes from Earl Warren to Anthony Kennedy. The model performs remarkably well in predicting the i…
The Electoral Consequences of Perquisite Use: The Casework Case
The belief is widespread that incumbents have enhanced their bid for reelection by using the perquisites of office skillfully. The evidence supporting this belief is mixed, however. This study begins by examining how a particular perquisite, casework, affects incumbent saliency and reputation among constituents. Within an appropriate research design, the study finds that an incumbent's ombudsman service creates a more positive evaluation of the i…
A Spatial Model of Roll Call Voting: Senators, Constituents, Presidents, and Interest Groups in Supreme Court Confirmations
We test a spatial model of Supreme Court confirmation votes that examines the effects of (1) the ideological distance between senators' constituents and nominees, (2) the personal ideologies of senators, (3) the qualifications of the nominee, (4) the strength of the president, and (5) the mobilization for and against nominees by interest groups. The data consist of the 1,475 individual confirmation votes from the 1955 nomination of John Harlan un…
The electoral impact of casework
There is no doubt that legislators assume casework has an important political impact, but the evidence that such service can be used to win electoral support from grateful constituents is mixed. The research reported here offers a model to assess the overall electoral impact of casework. The model suggests that while the impact does benefit the incumbent, it varies as a function of voter partisanship. In particular, the recognition effect of case…
Ideological cohesion between congress and the president: Does the road to the white house matter
This study examines the impact of US presidential nomination politics on congressional‐executive relations. In particular, we pose the critical question of whether nomination reforms have had any systematic effect on the inter‐branch ideological gap. Using an indicator of liberal voting in Congress and a derived liberalism score for presidents, we analyse the ideological disparity between the branches over a 40‐year period from 1949 to 1993. Resu…
Voting Behavior in the US House and Senate: Regional Shifts and Contemporary Changes in Party Coalitions
If we want to know what is happening to political parties today, the answer depends in part on how we define the term `party' and in part on the time frame used for analysis. In this paper we focus on parties as voting coalitions in the US House and the Senate over the last 40 years. To assess the ideological placement and cohesiveness of each party in the House and Senate, we use adjusted scores issued by the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA…
Political science (17 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (15 works) · Law (15 works) · Law (13 works) · Economics (11 works) · Politics (11 works) · Voting (8 works) · Political economy (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy (5 works)