Do presidential elections produce more ideologically extreme senators?
If so, it would be a surprise. The electorate that votes for president is larger and more moderate than the electorate that votes in midterm elections. You’d expect that to lead to more moderate Senate elections, too. But according to a new paper by Yosh Halberstam and Pablo Montagnes, the truth is just the opposite: In this paper, we compare senators first elected in midterms with those first elected in presidential elections and find them strikingly different: The cohort of senators first elected in presidential elections is consistently more ideologically extreme and party disciplined than the cohort first elected in midterms. This result is surprising in light of empirical evidence suggesting that the electorate in presidential elections is more ideologically moderate and less partisan than the electorate in midterm elections. Furthermore, we find that senators who are ousted or retire from office during the time period around presidential elections are significantly more ideologic
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