American Politics Research

This article suggests a framework by which to organize information and evaluate policy alternatives. In this framework, equity, efficiency, effectiveness, and political feasibility are criteria for choosing policy alternatives. In addition, the framework includes strategies—the policy formulation and the compliance structure—for achieving these values. Among the three major types of school desegregation policy alternatives implemented since Brown v. Board of Education —freedom of choice, mandatory reassignment, and magnet—voluntary—the magnet-voluntary alternative appears to achieve the greatest equity, efficiency, and effectiveness because it relies primarily on market-like incentives and an incremental decision-making approach.

This article explores an assumption implicit in democratic theory that appears to motivate much of the research into the causes of abstention: Voters and nonvoters differ on a variety of important politically relevant dimensions. The authors develop several hypotheses from this assumption and the prior research done in this area and test these propositions with data from the 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, and 1988 Center for Political Studies American National Election Studies. The more interesting findings are that voters and nonvoters differ in terms of their positions on some issues, but not by much, and not on all issues; voters are much more likely to form preferences based on policy concerns than are nonvoters; and voters and nonvoters do not differ in terms of whom they prefer for president. Theirfindings suggest that abstention does not result in markedly different political messages being sent to the political system than would have been sent under full participation, and does not reflect a clear potential for different political outputs from the system. Moreover, the pattern among elections is remarkably stable.

Researchers have generally stressed the limited influence of PAC contributions on roll calls. The author contends that an important reason for the failure to confirm an impact stems from the nature of issues and PACs studied. To demonstrate the point, this research is targeted at circumstances of particular promise for PAC influence involving issues of low visibility with little competition among organized groups and featuring PACs with strong potential for centralized decision making. Results of the analysis indicate an impressive impact and imply that the potential for PAC influence on roll calls may be greater than is commonly perceived. Still open is the question of how much impact PAC contributions have in legislative roll calls generally.

This article investigates the claim that individual political participation is affected by the tendency of politically significant others to participate, particularly if that other is a spouse. Models of reported turnout, validated turnout, and campaign activity are developed that explicitly model the relationship between pairs of political discussants. These models are estimated using a unique data set collected in South Bend, Indiana during the 1984 presidential election that includes direct information for both respondents and individuals named as political discussants. The results show that the likelihood of participation increases as discussants become more likely to participate. Spouses are found to be particularly important types of discussants in the case of turnout, but not when campaign activity is the measure of participation.

One major way citizens interact with local government is through individual contacts with public officials. Applying multivariate analysis to data from a 1985 study of three Florida cities, the authors find that need (defined as perceptions of government mis- or inaction) and awareness of whom to contact best explains contacting by people who clearly attach no larger social significance to their acts (particularized-referent contactors). On the other hand, social-referent contactors (those who see their contacts as affecting both themselves and others) are more likely to be people with both higher socioeconomic status and a greater sense of need.