Volume 1Labels, sorting and partisan feeling

Party identification and ideological labels drew closer together in American surveys. The volume asks what the labels contain, in the United States and about 100 countries, how the alignment changed across birth cohorts, and how it differs from partisans' feelings toward the other party.

Volume 2Coalitions and political differences

Participation, group coalitions, issues and attitudes toward institutions and democracy, 1948 to 2024. Party gaps on these measures differ in size and timing, and some reverse with control of the presidency, so no single trend describes them.

Volume 3Votes, giving and places

Election returns, donor records and county data count different populations at different scales. The volume follows the vote from counties to precincts and down the ballot, compares donors with voters, and returns from places to the people who live in them.

Planned

Polarization in Congress

Planned This question is on the research agenda, outside the main reading sequence. Planned companion to Chapter 7.1, The ideology of the donor pool.

The question

How far apart are the parties in Congress, and did elite polarization lead or follow the public?

The data

DIMEYears: 1979-2024 (23 election cycles)
VoteviewYears: 1st to 119th Congress (1789 to 2027)

dimevoteview

The scope

Officeholders Each row of the data is a candidate or an officeholder.

The question belongs to Part VII, Giving, votes, giving and places. Its unit of analysis is officeholders. See how the book treats evidence.