The Perot Candidacy and Attitudes toward Government and Politics

Abstract

Prior studies of third-party movements document both an individual- and aggregate-level relationship between disatisfaction with government and its leaders and third party support. Unfortunately, these studies are unable to determine whether citizen dissatisfaction precedes third-party support or if third-party support results in heightened negativity toward the political system. Using American National Election Study data to ex amine 1992 Perot voters, I demonstrate that the causal direction is from third-party support to decreased trust in government and external effi cacy. Additionally, this research reveals that the Perot campaign increased voter turnout in 1992 by enhancing citizens' interest in that year's cam paigns and strengthening the relationship between interest in campaigns and voter turnout. These findings indicate that American third party movements can perform the mobilizing and mentoring functions com monly associated with the major parties.