Collective preferences in presidential elections

Abstract

Although the literature on cyclical majorities is extensive, there is a paucity of empirical examinations of real world elections with mass electorates. This brief article attempts such an analysis. Using CPS data, I address the issue of intransitivities in social preferences for candidates in US presidential elections from 1972 to 1984. It is argued that (a) there were clear Condorcet winners in each of the four elections in question, and (b) that in each case collective preferences were ideologically constrained.