The 1996 Margin of Victory for U.S. House Incumbents :: Politics Political Election Government Essays

The 1996 Margin of Victory for U.S. ingleside IncumbentsIn 1996, the American customary reelected 357 members to the United States House of Representatives of those running for re choice, 95% succeeded. Several congressmen received a large margin of victory over their political opponents, similar to election results of the past. Trends in American politics bring in been the overwhelming reelection rates of House superjacents as well as large margins of victory over challengers. The utilisation of this paper is to examine the factors influencing incumbents margin of victory in the 1996 Congressional elections. books Review Most recent research concentrates on the increasing arc at all levels of American government toward high reelection success. Paul Jacob explains that today, challengers aim an exceedingly difficult time trying to defeat an incumbent. For example, incumbents who sought reelection in the 1988 general election had a 96% success rate and 98% in 1990. Though th e percentage decreased in 1992 because of House scandals, the general election rate for incumbents still remained high at 93% (Jacob, 1994 30). This is non a new phenomenon as approximately 92% of all incumbent representatives have been reelected since World War II. Even in a course of study with a lower percentage such(prenominal) as 1992, Davidson and Oleszek emphasize that disturbance in the House resulted more from retirements (many involuntary) than from electoral defeats (Davidson, 1994 63). Drawing upon existing literature, Alford and Brady in Congress Reconsidered have suggested four main reasons for this reelection phenomenon. The reasons argon as follows (1) congressional district lines worn-out to favor incumbents (2) increase resources of incumbent members (3) weak congressional challengers and (4) weak ships company identification of voters (150 and 151). The latter three explanations are supported by contemporary research however, the first theory is non. By exa mining similar trends in the Senate, which does not use district lines, researchers have concluded that congressional district lines do not favor incumbents and are not an explanation for high term of office reelection rates (151). However, much research has demonstrated that incumbents are usually rewarded on election days because of numerous factors. These factors include congressional perquisites such as campaign funding, franking privileges, and extensive media coverage. As a result, they often face weaker challengers because of such effective use of these perquisites (Erikson and Wright, 1993 99, 101). Finally, American voters do not strongly appoint with one party as in the past. More people are declaring themselves independent, and consequently, they are voting for the individual rather than for the party with whom they identify.