Survey research and racially charged elections: The case of David Duke in Louisiana

Accuracy in measuring vote intention has become a particular problem in elections involving candidates who take conservative positions on racial issues and who emphasize these issues in their campaigns. Consistent understatement of support for such candidates in preelection polls would seem to indicate a reluctance on the part of some survey respondents to honestly express their vote intention, perhaps due to the fear that their intended action might be interpreted as an expression of racism. This research, which utilizes surveys conducted during the 1991 Louisiana governor's election in which David Duke was prominently featured, attempts to develop more accurate alternative measures of support for racially conservative candidates. The findings indicate that more accurate and valid vote intention measures can be constructed through the use of candidate image variables. The findings also call into question the practice of attempting to develop more accurate measures of vote intention through simple reallocation of undecided voters based solely on race.     

Chasing an elusive concept: Ideological identifications and candidate choice

This research examines the manner in which ideological identifications covary with candidate choice. Ideological ID is not purely an independent variable for evaluating candidates; evaluations of the candidates affect both individual identification and candidate placements. Prospective voters try to create a consistent cognitive system of candidate preference, ideological ID, and ideological placement of their candidate. Results demonstrate that candidate preference has a strong effect on less salient attitudes.     

Prospects for village self‐governance in China

This article explores the changes in village self‐governance in the reform period. It reflects upon the potential of village self‐governance to contribute towards a broader democratisation process in China. It begins by reviewing rural governance in the pre‐reform period, drawing attention to the factors stimulating change. It then examines the newly emerging system of village self‐governance, focussing on the village committees, village assemblies and village representative assemblies. How this new system is implemented forms the subject of the third section. Finally the article considers the potential contribution of village self‐governance towards democratisation.     

Nail-biters and no-contests: The effect of electoral margins on satisfaction with democracy in winners and losers

Previous scholarship has found robust connections between winning an election and democratic system support. Building on this connection, our analysis theorizes an additional dimension of competitiveness existing in executive elections. We hypothesize a polarizing effect in close elections: that individuals feel the most satisfied after winning by a narrow margin, while losers will be most dissatisfied. Using survey data from eighteen national elections across eight countries, our findings support half of this expectation. Winner satisfaction with democratic systems is highest in close elections and erodes as margin increases. Losers' reported satisfaction is not affected by margin – those who lose by half a percent are indistinguishable in levels of system support from those who lose in landslides.