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The Personal Electoral Advantage of House Incumbents, 1936-1976

Texas A & M University

This study explores two aspects of the personal electoral advantage of House incumbents. First, a comprehensive measure of this advantage from 1936 to 1976 confirms the findings of others that the personal electoral advantage of House incumbents has increased substantially in recent years. Second, an exploration of the individual correlates of electoral advantage supports the theory that a particular type of congressman enjoys an unusually large electoral edge. The congressman highly successful in building up a personal electoral following tends to be the ambitious, publicity oriented type. One explanation of the recent increase in electoral advantage of incumbents, the author suggests, is the increasing proportion of these ambitious, electorally energetic members in the House.

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