Mandate Politics

This project focuses on mandates. Our argument is some elections, because of a need to understand where election results come from, get declared mandates. In doing so, they are imbued with a meaning about the status of public opinion. Members of Congress, because they need to attend to all signals of public opinion if they wish to be reelected, respond to these signals by altering their roll call voting behavior, resulting in the passage of policy that would have failed but for the mandate. While these events are rare (only three elections in the last 40 years) their repercussions for both representation and policy are dramatic.

Published articles:

Lawrence J. Grossback, David A. M. Peterson, and James A. Stimson. 2005. “What Causes a Mandate? Competing Theories on the Causes of Mandate Perceptions.” American Journal of Political Science. 49(2): 406-419.

David A. M. Peterson, Lawrence J. Grossback, James A. Stimson, and Amy Gangl. 2003. “Mandate Elections and Policy Change in Congress.” American Journal of Political Science. 47(3): 411-426.

Lawrence J. Grossback, David A. M. Peterson, and James A. Stimson. Forthcoming. “Electoral Mandates in American Politics.” British Journal of Political Science.

Book manuscript:

Lawrence J. Grossback, David A. M. Peterson, and James A. Stimson. Forthcoming. Mandate Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.