The Role of Vice Presidential Candidate Ratings in Presidential Voting Behavior

Abstract

With the increased attention paid to vice presidential candidates in recent years, research is still scanty on the question of whether candidates for this office affect the presidential vote at all. In this article the author employs feeling thermometer data from 1968 to 1992 to isolate a small segment of the voters (typically about 10%) for whom vice presidential preferences do not coincide with presidential preferences. When voters prefer a presidential candidate of one party and a vice presidential candidate of the other party, the former preference dominates the decision-making process. Yet the frequency with which second slot preferences are consequential is sufficient to warrant serious attention. Multivariate analysis confirms that vice presidential candidates are a significant factor in voting behavior even after controlling for party, ideology, and likes and dislikes of the presidential candidates.