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Single-issue voting: Elite-mass linkages

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Abstract

In this paper we consider the abortion and E.R.A. issues as examples of single-issue politics, as well as the nature of single-issue politics in general. We argue that many single issues are what others have called “easy” issues but that “hard-issue” voting as well as “easy-issue” voting may be occurring on both issues. We test this hypothesis using both “mass” and “elite” data sets. Our findings suggest that political activists may be cuing the masses into a pattern of single-issue voting, and hence keeping the battle over abortion and the E.R.A. intense.

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Conover, P.J., Gray, V. & Coombs, S. Single-issue voting: Elite-mass linkages. Polit Behav 4, 309–331 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00986967

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