Frank B. Feigert

Government and third-party performance in mid-term by-elections: The Canadian, British and Australian experience

Abstract The results of mid-term by-elections often attract considerable media coverage but, except for the successful candidates, do by-elections really matter? Are they largely idiosyncratic and ephemeral political phenomena or can an analysis of the results provide insights into trends in electoral behaviour? In this analysis we attempt to answer these questions, focusing initially on the broad features of by-elections and then more closely on the relationship between government and third party electoral performance and effects. Included is a consideration of the impact of third or minor party intervention in by-elections and the contribution this makes to electoral volatility. To provide a comparative basis for the analysis we examine almost six hundred contested by-elections in Australia, Canada and Britain from 1945 to 1987.

Incentives and Task Performance Among Party Precinct Workers

OLITICAL parties in the United States originated to serve as a link between the newly created mass electorate and groups of politicians in the government. With the development of a mass electorate, a means of organizing voters to support particular politicians or groups of politicians became necessary. The lower level of the party organization evolved to perform organization, mobilization, and service functions. If parties are to be an important linkage mechanism in American politics, they must be more than convenient labels under which candidates seek public office. One element of that more than label role is the effective performance of various functions at the local level. However, the research focusing on local level task performance has been limited. Two questions must be considered. To what extent does the precinct worker perform the requisite tasks? What factors influence the degree of task performance which occurs? A simple model of party worker task performance is as follows:

Different Contents, Similar Packages: The Domestic Political Beliefs of Southern Local Party Activists

This research note investigates the content, structure, and correlates of the political beliefs of Democratic and Republican local party activists in eleven Southern states. Confirmatory factor analyses reveal that the beliefs of both groups are structured by three factors concerning government involvement in economy and society, traditional values, and womens rights and roles. Regarding the content of belief, Republicans take substantially more con servative positions on several (not all) of the issues organized by the three factors and, unlike Democrats, there is little subgroup diversity in their beliefs concerning government involvement and traditional values issues. The political beliefs of Democrats, but not Republicans, also vary geographically, with Deep South Democrats being significantly more conservative than those in border states.