Electoral Innovation and the Alaska System

Partisanship and Populism Are Associated With Support for Top-4/Ranked-Choice Voting Rules

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6340307
AutoresJ Andrew Sinclair (0000-0002-5859-7036, Claremont McKenna College), R Michael Alvarez (0000-0002-8113-4451, California Institute of Technology), Betsy Sinclair (0000-0002-1362-589X, Washington University in St. Louis), Christian R Grose (0000-0002-3719-3155, University of Southern California)
Año2024
Volumen77
Número4
Páginas1196-1211
Fecha de publicación2024-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPolitical Research Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1065-9129 • E-ISSN: 1938-274X
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/10659129241263585
OpenAlexW4400833246
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas51

In 2020, Alaskans voted to adopt a nonpartisan top-4 primary followed by a ranked-choice general election. Proposals for “final four” and “final five” election systems are being considered in other states, as well as ranked-choice voting. The initial use of Alaska’s procedure in 2022 serves as a test case for examining whether such reforms may help moderate candidates avoid being “primaried.” In 2022, incumbent Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski held her seat against a Trump-endorsed Republican, Kelly Tshibaka. We use data from the 2022 election in Alaska, along with a mixed-mode survey of Alaskan voters before the general election, to test hypotheses about how voters behave in these kinds of elections, finding: (1) the moderate Republican candidate, Murkowski, likely would have lost a closed partisan primary; (2) some Democrats and independents favored the moderate Republican over the candidate of their own party, and the new rules allowed them to support her at all stages of the election, along with others who voted for her to stop the more conservative Republican candidate; and (3) that Alaskan voters are largely favorable toward the new rules, but that certain kinds of populist voters are likely to both support Trump and oppose the rules

Democracy · Economics · Electoral system · Majority rule · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Populism · Voting · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Social Media and Politics