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Party Competition as a Function of Demographic Variables

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Date Issued:
1968
Summary:
The general hypothesis is that variation in party competition can be accounted for in terms of socio-economic diversity. Since this general hypothesis is not amenable to direct testing, eleven lowerlevel hypotheses concerning the relationship between party competition and variation in socio-economic structure were used. The county was the unit of analysis. Party competition was measured for two levelsthe presidential and the gubernatorial--for each county. Party competition was defined at each level in teras of the percentage of the vote which a county gave to the candidate who failed to carry the county. For the presidential levelf an average was taken for the 1956 and 1960 elections. Por the gubernatorial level, an average was taken for the elections between 1956 and 1960. The higher is the average, the higher is party competition for the county. Measured thusly, party competition was predicted to vary directly with: (1) per cent urban; (2) median income for the county; (3) median number of years of education of those twenty-five years of age or older; (4) the degree of income variation for the county; (5) the degree of variation in number of years of school completed by those twenty-five years of age or older in the county; (6) the degree of dispersion among the major occupational categories within the county; (7) population density per square mile; (8) the per cent of the labor force engaged in white-collar occupations; (9) the per cent Negro of the county population. Party competition was predicted to vary inversely with (l) the extent to which urbanism in a county deviated from fifty per cent ; and , (2) the extent to which the per cent employed in white-collar occupations deviated from fifty per cent. Multiple correlation and regression analysiB was used to teat the hypotheses. A selected sample was used, consisting of the counties of two sets of states. The Homogeneous Set consisted of the counties of Maine, New Hampshire, Wyoming, and North Dakota. The Heterogeneous Set consisted of the counties of New Jersey and Ohio. Also, these two sets were combined to form a Combined Set. The multiple correlation coefficients indicated that party competition could be accounted for in terms of socio-economic diversity to a significant degree at the presidential level but not at the gubernatorial level for each of the sets. However, many of the relationships were not in the predicted direction, indicating that party competition will not necessarily increase with all types of socio-economic diversity. A surprising finding was that the relationships between party competition and the independent variables were often reversed for the two ballot levels . It was suggested that perhaps two party systems are operating in these states at the different ballot levels. The most consistent finding was the negative relationship-contrary to the predicted positive relationship--between party competition and the median educational level of a county. Several others of the independent variables were found to have some tmportance, but there were many inconsistencies in the findings between the ballot levels and, to a lesser extent, between the sets of counties. The results auagest that the simple linear model which vas used might need complicating; the relationships may be more complex than can be accommodated by a linear model.
Title: Party Competition as a Function of Demographic Variables.
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Name(s): Corbett, A. M.
Huckshorn, Robert J., Thesis advisor
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Department of Political Science
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Created: 1968
Date Issued: 1968
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 138 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The general hypothesis is that variation in party competition can be accounted for in terms of socio-economic diversity. Since this general hypothesis is not amenable to direct testing, eleven lowerlevel hypotheses concerning the relationship between party competition and variation in socio-economic structure were used. The county was the unit of analysis. Party competition was measured for two levelsthe presidential and the gubernatorial--for each county. Party competition was defined at each level in teras of the percentage of the vote which a county gave to the candidate who failed to carry the county. For the presidential levelf an average was taken for the 1956 and 1960 elections. Por the gubernatorial level, an average was taken for the elections between 1956 and 1960. The higher is the average, the higher is party competition for the county. Measured thusly, party competition was predicted to vary directly with: (1) per cent urban; (2) median income for the county; (3) median number of years of education of those twenty-five years of age or older; (4) the degree of income variation for the county; (5) the degree of variation in number of years of school completed by those twenty-five years of age or older in the county; (6) the degree of dispersion among the major occupational categories within the county; (7) population density per square mile; (8) the per cent of the labor force engaged in white-collar occupations; (9) the per cent Negro of the county population. Party competition was predicted to vary inversely with (l) the extent to which urbanism in a county deviated from fifty per cent ; and , (2) the extent to which the per cent employed in white-collar occupations deviated from fifty per cent. Multiple correlation and regression analysiB was used to teat the hypotheses. A selected sample was used, consisting of the counties of two sets of states. The Homogeneous Set consisted of the counties of Maine, New Hampshire, Wyoming, and North Dakota. The Heterogeneous Set consisted of the counties of New Jersey and Ohio. Also, these two sets were combined to form a Combined Set. The multiple correlation coefficients indicated that party competition could be accounted for in terms of socio-economic diversity to a significant degree at the presidential level but not at the gubernatorial level for each of the sets. However, many of the relationships were not in the predicted direction, indicating that party competition will not necessarily increase with all types of socio-economic diversity. A surprising finding was that the relationships between party competition and the independent variables were often reversed for the two ballot levels . It was suggested that perhaps two party systems are operating in these states at the different ballot levels. The most consistent finding was the negative relationship-contrary to the predicted positive relationship--between party competition and the median educational level of a county. Several others of the independent variables were found to have some tmportance, but there were many inconsistencies in the findings between the ballot levels and, to a lesser extent, between the sets of counties. The results auagest that the simple linear model which vas used might need complicating; the relationships may be more complex than can be accommodated by a linear model.
Identifier: FA00012585 (IID)
Degree granted: Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1968.
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Subject(s): Political parties--United States
Geopolitics
Demography--United States
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Sublocation: Digital Library
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00012585
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Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.