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Ideology and campaign activity at three levels of government

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Abstract

This article examines the relationship between self-designated political ideology, opinions on twenty-one issues, and campaign activity at local, state, and national levels. The samples examined include delegates to the 1984 Party Conventions in eleven states. Generally, the findings indicate that ideology and issue position are most strongly associated with activity in national campaigns. Among Democrats liberalism is associated with national activity, whereas among Republicans those who are conservative are most active in national campaigns. Some important intraparty differences are found between local campaign activists and national activists. For example, among Democrats local campaign activists are much more conservative than national activists on several issues.

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Carlson, J.M., Burrell, B. & Dolan, K. Ideology and campaign activity at three levels of government. Polit Behav 11, 273–287 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00992300

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