Cross-Over Voting in a 1976 Open Presidential Primary

Abstract

Using data collected from a polling place survey with 1,279 voters in the fourcounty metropolitan Milwaukee area, this report considers how much cross-over voting took place in the 1976 presidential primary, the degree to which the cross-over vote was a mischief one, the social backgrounds of cross-over and consistent voters, and the reasons cited for the candidate choice of cross-over and consistent voters. Ronald D. Hedlund is Professor in the Department of Political Science and a Scientist in the Urban Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The author wishes to thank several individuals and institutions for their contributions in completing this report: The Milwaukee Sentinel -especially Laurie Van Dyke, Keith Spore, and John Blexrudcollected the data and generously made it available for secondary analysis. William Schneider of Harvard University served as a consultant in preparing the questionnaire and in interpreting the results, and my colleagues Meredith Watts, Keith Hamm, and Robert Stein made numerous comments and suggestions. Significant financial support for analysis and computer time was provided by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Graduate School, Urban Research Center, and Social Science Research Facility. POQ 41(1977-78) 498-514 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.133 on Fri, 22 Jul 2016 05:26:32 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms CROSS-OVER VOTING 499 maries is viewed by some as a strictly party matter. By permitting nonparty as well as party members to vote in a primary, partisan control over the nomination of its candidates, and thus party discipline, is diluted. Open primaries and the resultant cross-over voting are argued to be counterproductive to the building of a strong and responsible two-party