|
|
Article: U.S. presidential elections in the nineteenth century: why culture and the economy both mattered.
- Article from:
- Polity
- Article date:
- September 22, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Palgrave Macmillan, a Division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
I. Introduction
Political scientists have made a persuasive statistical case that economic conditions have influenced U.S. presidential elections since at least the end of World War II. (1) Most political scientists assume that economic conditions influence U.S. presidential elections because government plays an important role in managing the economy. (2) This assumption has prompted political scientists to focus their attention on presidential elections since 1946 because the government gained a significant role in fiscal policy making from the beginning of the New Deal through the end of World War II and the passage of the Employment Act of 1946. (3)
...