Journal Article10.1007/BF01541643
Are “superdelegates” super?
TL;DR: This article examined the accuracy of superdelegates' perceptions of the party following's positions on issues compared with those of ordinary delegates and showed that the fears about postreform delegates being more out of touch with the Party following than "professionals" are largely overstated.
read more
Abstract: Post-1968 changes in the Democratic party's nomination process resulted, by some accounts, in the selection of delegates who knew little about politics, cared little about winning, and were removed from the party following. One remedy for this situation was the reintroduction of party professionals into the process in the form of “superdelegates.” Did this cure work? By examining the accuracy of superdelegates' perceptions of the party following's positions on issues compared with those of ordinary delegates, this paper addresses part of this question. Using data about the views of delegates to the 1988 national party conventions and the 1988 American National Election Study, I show that the fears about postreform delegates being more out of touch with the party following than “professionals” (i.e., superdelegates) are largely overstated.
read more
Chat with Paper
AI Agents for this Paper
Find similar papers on Google Scholar, PubMed and Arxiv
Write a critical review of this paper
Analyze citations of this paper to find unaddressed research gaps
Citations
American Public Opinion and the Civil War in Bosnia Attention, Knowledge, and the Media
TL;DR: This paper used polls conducted for the Times Mirror/Pew Research Center for the People and the Press from 1992 to 1996 and indicators of media coverage of Bosnia to analyze trends in public attention to and knowledge of the conflict.
12
Congressional Endorsements in the Presidential Nomination Process: Democratic Superdelegates in the 2008 Election
TL;DR: This paper examined congressional superdelegate endorsements in the 2008 Democratic presidential election and found that changes in the political context affected the balance of factors in members' decision-making process, leading to a change in superlegate endorsements.
5
Polls & Elections: Superdelegates or Supertrustees? The Timing and Consistency of Superdelegate Decisions
TL;DR: In the case of the 2008 presidential election, the superdelegate class as mentioned in this paper attracted a great deal of attention in the run-up to the 2008 election, and since their inception resulting from a 1982 rule change, these unpledged, exofficio delegates have attracted little attention from scholars who study presidential nominations.
4
Comparing the views of superdelegates and Democratic voters in the 2008 Democratic nomination campaign
TL;DR: The authors examined the attitudes and decisions of superdelegates towards the candidates and their own role in the nomination process and found that voters and superdelegate differ greatly in their perceptions of superlegate, their roles and decisions, as well as the legitimacy of the Democratic Party.
2
Is the Democratic Party’s superdelegate system unfair to voters?
TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed a formal model that explains why superdelegates selected one candidate over the other and why some super delegates committed early in the primary season while others waited.
2
References
•Book
Constituency Influence in Congress
Warren E. Miller,Donald E. Stokes +1 more
- 01 Aug 1993
TL;DR: The constituency influence over the lower house of Congress is commonly thought to be both a normative principle and a factual truth of American government as mentioned in this paper, and many political scientists feel regretfully that the Framers' wish has come all too true.
2.1K
Measuring Political Sophistication
TL;DR: A second and generally preferable approach capitalizes on the relationship between constraint and abstraction as discussed by the authors, by gauging a person's use of abstractions-either how abstract they are or how heavily used-we can gauge his or her.
915
Consensus and Ideology in American Politics
TL;DR: The belief that consensus is a prerequisite of democracy has, since deTocqueville, so often been taken for granted that it is refreshing to find the notion now being challenged as mentioned in this paper.
770
Issue Conflict and Consensus among Party Leaders and Followers
TL;DR: In contrast to the "ideological" parties of Europe, which supposedly appeal to their followers through sharply defined, coherent, and logically related doctrines, the American parties are thought to fit their convictions to the changing demands of the political contest as discussed by the authors.