Issue Voting in Gubernatorial Elections: Abortion and Post-Webster Politics

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-1994

Publication Title

The Journal of Politics

Volume

56

Issue

1

First page number:

187

Last page number:

199

Abstract

Nearly all studies of gubernatorial voting focus on the role of state economic conditions and incumbency on vote choice. Yet gubernatorial campaigns frequently focus on social issues such as abortion, the death penalty, and gun control. Using data from 1989 and 1990 exit polls in 10 states, we find that abortion was a significant predictor of vote choice in all but one. Our logistic regression analysis suggests that abortion position had a greater impact on vote choice than state economic conditions in eight of the 10 states in our analysis, and that abortion was a stronger predictor than even partisanship in Pennsylvania.

Keywords

Abortion; Governors; Governors--Election; Voting

Disciplines

American Politics | Political Science | Women's Studies

Language

English

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