Premium
Trump on the Trail: Assessing the Impact of Presidential Campaign Visits on Voting Behavior in the 2018 Midterm Elections
Author(s) -
Abramowitz Alan,
Panagopoulos Costas
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
presidential studies quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.337
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1741-5705
pISSN - 0360-4918
DOI - 10.1111/psq.12664
Subject(s) - turnout , political science , presidential system , voting , polarization (electrochemistry) , public administration , presidential election , voting behavior , political economy , state (computer science) , law , economics , politics , computer science , chemistry , algorithm
In this article, we examine the impact of President Donald Trump's visits on the campaign trail in the November 2018 midterm elections. We find that President Trump's visits failed to either boost overall state‐level turnout or support for GOP U.S. Senate candidates in these elections. The results reinforce the notion that presidential capacity to influence voting behavior is limited, especially in an era of deep partisan polarization when partisan identity and other, more fundamental considerations shape vote choice and turnout decisions.