Candidates For Political Office Research Articles

Why Churches Cannot Endorse or Oppose Political Candidates

Churches cannot favor or oppose particular candidates for political office. The ban on electioneering has nothing to do with the First Amendment or Jeffersonian principles of separation of church and state. Instead, the ban is based on a provision in the 1954 tax reform act prohibiting all tax-exempt organizations from supporting or opposing political candidates. I show that the provision grew out of the anti-communist frenzy of the 1950s and was directed at right-wing organizations such as Facts Forum and the Committee for Constitutional Government. It was introduced by Lyndon Johnson as part of his effort to end McCarthyism, protect the loyalist wing of the Texas Democratic Party, and win reelection to the Senate in 1954. I also discuss the implications these findings have for contemporary church policy.

The Literature of Decline

This article compares reflections from four sources on the state of the American democracy in the international community (The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000, by Paul Kennedy; 1999:Victory Without War, by Richard Nixon; “Communism at Bay,”The Economist; Long Cycles in World Politics, by George Modelski) within the framework of the 1980s, which was portrayed by leaders as “an era of good feelings.” Yet drastically different positions on American rise or decline are propounded by historians and officeholders, former presidents and scholars, journalists and aspiring candidates for political office. These four writings reveal the complexity of the analysis of the American decline. Yet, it is crucial for leaders to maintain public devotion to their nation, not through passion, but rather, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, through “the solid quarry of sober reason,”. America's capacity to preserve a strong and healthy resilience, the author concludes, is the exceptional value it continues to offer the world.

Amount of information about the attitude object and attitude-behavior consistency.

The synthesis of two separate lines of inquiry--research on information integration and longitudinal studies of attitudes--prompted the hypothesis that the degree of consistency between attitudes and behavior will increase as a function of the amount of information available about the attitude object. The hypothesis was tested in three separate longitudinal studies, ranging in length from 4 days to 4 months, that investigated the following behaviors: voting for candidates for political office, voting for two social policy election initiatives, and having an influenza vaccination. In support of the hypothesis, in each study, amount of information moderated the consistency between attitudes and behavior; and the significance of this relation remained even after controlling for the effects of a number of other potential moderators, including prior direct behavioral experience with the attitude object and attitude certainty. Consistent with previous research, direct behavioral experience was also a determinant of attitude-behavior consistency, and for the behavior of having an influenza vaccination, this relation was independent of the effect of amount of information. The discussion focuses on the interrelation among moderators of attitude-behavior consistency and on the theoretical implications of the findings.

Political Rhetoric and the Structure of Political Opinion: Some Experimental Findings

ASS BELIEF systems research has generated a great deal more heat than light over the past fifteen years or so. Where Philip Converse (1964) once found evidence suggesting that politics and political issues were remote from the concerns of citizens' everyday lives, more recent studies have discovered substantially higher levels of belief consistency (or constraint) and ideological thinking among the American public.1 Explosive events, emotional issues, and controversial appeals by candidates for political office during the 1960s and early 1970s apparently combined to produce a crystallization of opinion at the mass level, and a growing polarization of society into contending liberal and conservative camps. Although it was unclear whether the observed changes represented a temporary deviation from the more normal patterns described by Converse, or a durable shift toward ideological confrontation in American politics, revisionist scholars were able to agree on one important point, i.e., that ideological sophistication is, at least in part, a function of political context and not solely an attribute of the individual citizen.

Mounties on the Loose

According to a recent publication of the U.S. State Department, “The Canadian record in protection of human rights is one of the finest in the world.” Although President Carter has frequently spoken about threats to human rights in Communist and Third World countries, he has seemingly endorsed the State Department view by not saying a word about problems in Canada. Carter's silence has been largely matched by that of the American press, with the result that few Americans know that within the last year Canada has been rocked by a continuing scandal in which it has been revealed that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP—yes, the “Mounties“) has for decades been systematically and secretly opening mail, breaking into homes and offices, and obtaining confidential tax, unemployment, and medical records, and checking into all candidates for political office.

Blacks & Ethnic Political Tolerance

In a survey conducted in sixteen New Jersey municipalities with substantial black populations, Leonard Cole examines the degree of political tolerance shown by white voters toward black candidates for political office. His endeavor to explain the increasing support given to black candidates leads him to the conclusion that the pattern is similar to that applying to the political success of white ethnic groups.

Paraplegia and Disability

To the Editor.— Recently, the news media expressed concern whether severe physical disability is an illness that would disqualify a person from consideration for the presidency of the United States. Does Governor George Wallace's paraplegia constitute such an illness? Would paraplegia prevent an elected president from adequately carrying out the duties of the presidency? The Minnesota Physiatric Society found areas of disagreement with the news media's coverage and submitted a resolution to the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. The following statement of the Academy evolved from this resolution: The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation does not endorse political parties or candidates for political office. However, the Academy deplores presentation of the concept to the public that paraplegia, in itself, constitutes sufficient reason to deny the individual his rights to participate in community activities, including seeking public office. The Minnesota Physiatric Society believes this to be an

An analysis of nonpartisan election media expenditure decisions using limited dependent variable methods

In order to maximize the information disseminating function of campaigning, candidates for political office must make numerous decisions regarding the allocation of resources for various campaign activities. One of the most important financial decisions a candidate must make occurs in determining the extent and character of mass media expenditures. To determine mass media budget allocations, two decisions are required. First, the type(s) of mass media to employ in the campaign, and second, the amount of the budget to allocate to each media selected. These two decisions are not necessarily independent since high fixed costs are associated with employing electronic media. In this paper, we examine one particular form of mass media, television, and its use in nonpartisan elections. Because of the nature of the decision process in using television advertising an estimation technique for limited dependent variables is employed to predict first, the probability that a candidate will use television advertising in a campaign, and second, the amount spent on such advertising. The occurrence of these outcomes is considered to be a function of both the total financial resources available to the candidate and the type (importance) of the political office sought.