Candidate Ideology and Vote Choice in the 2020 US Presidential Election
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6180101 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David E Broockman (0000-0002-0993-7073, Berkeley College, corresponding author), Joshua L Kalla (0000-0003-3553-3862, Yale University) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 83-96 |
| Publication date | 2024-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Politics Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1532-673X • E-ISSN: 1552-3373 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1532673x231220652 |
| OpenAlex | W4389741459 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 26 |
A prominent literature argues that moderate candidates perform better in general elections, but a competing literature that emphasizes partisan loyalties contests this. The 2020 Democratic presidential primary represented an opportunity to speak to these debates due to high voter information about multiple moderate and extreme candidates running in the same election. We present results from two national surveys (total n = 102, 425) that asked how respondents would choose in an election between one of the Democratic candidates and Republican Donald Trump. Our evidence is consistent with moderates having an electoral advantage: more moderate Democratic candidates receive more support against Trump than do more extreme candidates. Providing information through plausible attacks did not change these results. Notably, Sanders had the highest support after the moderates, but this was due to an implausibly large increase in intended turnout among young voters. Inconsistent with theories emphasizing the strength of partisan loyalties, Republican voters explain much of this effect
Democracy · General election · Ideology · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Presidential election · Presidential system · Public relations · Sociology · Turnout · Voting · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Psychology · Public Administration · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology
An Emotion System Theory to address gaps in Affective Intelligence Theory and conceptualization of emotional phenomena
Assessing Ideological Representation Using Policy Repositioning
Perceived Legitimacy and Polarization in Political Communication
The effect of real‐news party cues
Explaining 2020 Trump support
Follow the Leader?
The Timeline of Presidential Elections
How Black Candidates Affect Voter Turnout
Democracy for Realists
Validating the demographic, political, psychological, and experimental results obtained from a new source of online survey respondents
Legislative Responsiveness to Gerrymandering
Partisan Intoxication or Policy Voting
Partisan Bias in Factual Beliefs about Politics
Electoral and Policy Consequences of Voter Turnout
Avoiding the Hypothetical
Polls and Elections
Ideologically Extreme Candidates in U.S. Presidential Elections, 1948–2012
Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects
When and Why Are Campaigns’ Persuasive Effects Small? Evidence from the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election
Candidate Positioning in U.S. House Elections
Man Bites Blue Dog
Achieving Validation
We Don’t Know” Means “They’re Not Sure
Aggregate Effects of Large-Scale Campaigns on Voter Turnout
Vote Self-Prediction Hardly Predicts Who Will Vote, and Is (Misleadingly) Unbiased
Changing votes or changing voters? How candidates and election context swing voters and mobilize the base
What Happens When Extremists Win Primaries
Out of Step, Out of Office
Who Punishes Extremist Nominees? Candidate Ideology and Turning Out the Base in US Elections
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |