Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-3-2019

Subject: LCSH

Presidential candidates, Voter turnout, Loyalty

Disciplines

Political Science

Abstract

Presidential candidates provide a boost to their congressional candidate counterparts, in which congressional candidates should ride the proverbial coattails into office (Campbell and Sumners 1990; Stewart 1989). The 2016 election, however, provides an instance in which the presidential coattails were less than desirable. In this article, we argue that state politics determines the optimal strategy for how candidates should position themselves vis‐à‐vis a controversial presidential candidate. Based on our findings, voters rewarded candidates at varying levels for distancing themselves from then candidate Trump. Specifically, the disloyal strategy, in which candidates completely disavowed Trump, worked best in swing states and among Democrats, liberals, and Clinton voters. The ambiguous strategy, in which candidates took an unclear position on Trump, was less effective, but still received gains in appeal among independents and liberals.

Comments

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Chaturvedi, N.S. & Haynes, C. (2019) Polls and elections: Is Loyalty a Powerful Thing? Republican Senate campaign strategy and Trump coattails in the 2016 election. Presidential Studies Quarterly Volume 49, Issue 2, pp. 432-448, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/psq.12523

This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions."

DOI

10.1111/psq.12523

Publisher Citation

Chaturvedi, N.S. & Haynes, C. (2019) Polls and elections: Is Loyalty a Powerful Thing? Republican Senate campaign strategy and Trump coattails in the 2016 election. Presidential Studies Quarterly Volume 49, Issue 2, pp. 432-448. doi: 10.1111/psq.12523

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