Penalizing the Party: Health Care Reform Issue Voting in the 2010 Election

34 Pages Posted: 23 Dec 2015

See all articles by David Konisky

David Konisky

Indiana University Bloomington - School of Public & Environmental Affairs (SPEA)

Lilliard Richardson

Penn State School of Public Policy

Date Written: November 30, 2011

Abstract

Many political pundits characterized the 2010 election as a referendum on President Obama’s health care reform law. The political science literature on issue voting, however, does not consistently demonstrate that these types of policy evaluations are central to citizens’ vote choices. Moreover, existing theories suggest different predictions about how the health care reform issue would affect elections across different levels of government. Studying data from the 2010 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), the analysis indicates that those opposed to health care reform were less likely to vote for Democratic candidates in the U.S. House, the U.S. Sen- ate, state gubernatorial, and state attorneys general contests, controlling for partisan affiliation, political ideology, perceptions of the economy, and evaluations of other salient policy issues. These findings suggest that, across the board, Democrats were penalized for their support of health care reform, and more generally provide evidence of the role of non-economic issue voting in U.S. elections.

Keywords: Congressional elections, health policy, issue voting, state elections

Suggested Citation

Konisky, David and Richardson, Lilliard, Penalizing the Party: Health Care Reform Issue Voting in the 2010 Election (November 30, 2011). American Politics Research 40(5): 903-926, 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2707785

David Konisky (Contact Author)

Indiana University Bloomington - School of Public & Environmental Affairs (SPEA) ( email )

1315 East Tenth Street
Bloomington, IN 47405
United States

Lilliard Richardson

Penn State School of Public Policy ( email )

University Park
State College, PA 16802
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
17
Abstract Views
355
PlumX Metrics