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Primary Elections and Candidate Ideology: Out of Step with the Primary Electorate?
Author(s) -
BRADY DAVID W.,
HAN HAHRIE,
POPE JEREMY C.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
legislative studies quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.728
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1939-9162
pISSN - 0362-9805
DOI - 10.3162/036298007x201994
Subject(s) - dilemma , ideology , general election , primary election , presidential system , political science , presidential election , primary (astronomy) , face (sociological concept) , political economy , politics , sociology , law , social science , epistemology , philosophy , physics , astronomy
This article draws on a new dataset of House primary‐ and general‐election outcomes (1956–98) to examine the relationship between primary elections and candidate ideology. We show that, like presidential candidates, congressional candidates face a strategic‐positioning dilemma: should they align themselves with their general‐ or primary‐election constituencies? Relative to general‐election voters, primary voters favor more ideologically extreme candidates. We show that congressional candidates handle the dilemma by positioning themselves closer to the primary electorate. This article thus supports the idea that primaries pull candidates away from median district preferences.