Nationalization and the Electoral Connection

Abstract

Abstract This chapter investigates the relationship between nationalization and the electoral connection from 1840 and 2020 and finds that no level of nationalization completely inhibits the ability of candidates to cultivate a personal vote with constituents. Some work suggests that nationalization has the potential to weaken the relationship between constituents and voter, while other research shows that it is possible for congressional candidates to establish an electoral connection with voters despite highly nationalized politics. Even though the party ballot made it extraordinarily difficult for voters to split their ticket in many races, differential election timing mitigated nationalization in some cases throughout the 19th century. In more recent elections, open seats change party control more often. As such, there is still an opportunity for candidate-specific factors like incumbency to exert an influence on election outcomes even during eras of high nationalization; it is just less likely for those candidate-level characteristics to change the outcome.