This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Pothier, J. T. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Research Note

The Partisan Bias in Senate Elections

Yale University

Recent Senate elections have seen a strong pro-Republican bias, resulting from inroads in the small population states overrepresented in the Senate and from lean victory margins. The bias allows the GOP to capture a majority of the seats with less than a majority of the aggregate Senate vote (1978-1980) and to exceed the historical norm when the Democrats win a landslide (1982). Although this bias will probably continue, the increased competitiveness and responsiveness of Senate elections may see the GOP alternate between the threadbare majorities of the 97th and the 98th Congresses and (when the Democrats can string together several landslides) very small minorities.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?