Vote share and return rates: A comparison of two measures of election outcomes

Abstract

This paper compares two measures of House election outcomes: return rates and vote share for presidential party incumbents. It is found that these election variables move independently from each other. The empirical work discovers that the relationship between return rates and vote share varies as vote share increases and as time progresses. It reports that economic variables explain movement in return rates independent of vote share, but economic variables cannot explain variation in vote share independent of return rates. These results suggest return rates are more sensitive to economic fluctuations than vote share. This paper also finds that the magnitude of the response to changes in economic variables differs across these two election result terms.