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

The Electoral College

Planned This question is on the research agenda, outside the main reading sequence. Planned companion to Chapter 6.1, Nationalization of the county vote.

The question

How far is the tipping-point state from the popular vote, and how many states are competitive?

The data

State presidential returnsYears: 1976-2024 (13 elections)
County election returnsYears: President 1868-2024 (40 elections); House and Senate 1990-2024

state-returnscounty-returns

The scope

Places Each row of the data is a place such as a county or a neighborhood, so results describe places. They do not describe the people in them.

The question belongs to Part VI, Election results at different scales, votes, giving and places. Its unit of analysis is places. See how the book treats evidence.

The part has an explorer: Elections, 1976 to 2024.