The Unfinished Presidencies: Why Incumbent Presidents May Lose Their Re-Election Bids

As Presidências Inacabadas: Por que os Presidentes em Exercício podem Perder a Reeleição

Authors

  • Luis Miguel da Vinha Valley City State University
  • Niklas Ernst University of New Brunswick

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21814/perspectivas.100

Keywords:

Incumbency Advantage, Party Nomination, Nomination, Presidential Elections

Abstract

With the conclusion of the 2016 presidential election in the US, presidential scholars have shifted their attention not only to the Trump presidency, but also towards his possible re-election campaign. Throughout the history of the United States incumbent presidents have usually won their bid for a second term in office. The presidency offers incumbents several inherent electoral advantages – e.g., party nomination and unified party base, name recognition and political experience, access to government resources. However, some incumbent candidates have been unable to capitalize on these advantages. The current paper analyzes the electoral bids of Presidents Ford, Carter, and Bush, identifying the factors that can invalidate the advantages intrinsic to holding the office of President of the United States.

Resumo

Com a conclusão das eleições presidenciais de 2016 nos EUA, os analistas têm focado a sua atenção não só na presidência de Donald Trump, mas também na sua possível reeleição. Ao longo da história dos Estados Unidos, os presidentes têm geralmente ganho sua candidatura a um segundo mandato. A presidência oferece aos titulares várias vantagens eleitorais inerentes – por exemplo, nomeação e base unificada do partido, reconhecimento e experiência política, e acesso a recursos governamentais. No entanto, alguns presidents não conseguiram capitalizar nas vantagens inerentes ao cargo. O atual artigo analisa as candidaturas eleitorais dos presidentes Ford, Carter e Bush, identificando os fatores que invalidaram as vantagens intrínsecas à ocupação do cargo de presidente dos Estados Unidos.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Luis Miguel da Vinha, Valley City State University

Assistant Professor of Political Science, Social Science Pepartment, Valley City State University.

Niklas Ernst, University of New Brunswick

Graduate student in the Political Science Department at University of New Brunswick, Canada.

References

Aachen, Christopher, and Larry Bartels. 2016. “Democracy for Realists: Holding Up a Mirror to the Electorate.” Juncture 22(4): 269-275.

Abramowitz, Alan. 2004. “When Good Forecasts Go Bad: The Time-for-Change Model and the 2004 Presidential Election.” Political Science Politics 37(4): 745-746.

Abramson, Paul, John Aldrich, and David Rohde. 1998. Change and Continuity in the 1996 Elections. Washington DC: CQ Press.

Anslover, Nicole. 2016. “Politics and the Public Mood in 1976.” In A Companion to Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter, edited by Scott Kaufman: 211-227. Malden, MA: John Wiley Sons.

Alvarez, Michael, and Jonathan Nagler. 1995. “Economics, Issues and the Perot Candidacy: Voter Choice in the 1992 Presidential Election.” American Journal of Political Science 39(3): 714-744.

Blake, Aaron. 2017. “Donald Trump’s New 2020 Campaign Slogan is Out, and it’s Very, Well, Donald Trump.” The Washington Post, January 12. http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-2020-campaign-slogan-233761

Brinkley, Douglas. 1998. The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter’s Journey Beyond the White House. New York: Viking.

Broh, Anthony. 1980. “Horse-Race Journalism: Reporting the Polls in the 1976 Presidential Election.” Public Opinion Quarterly 44(4): 514-529.

Busch, Andrew. 2016. “The Election of 1980.” In A Companion to Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter, edited by Scott Kaufman: 470-490. Malden, MA: John Wiley Sons.

Callaghan, Karen, and Simon Virtanen. 1993. “Revised Models of the Rally Phenomenon’: The Case of the Carter Presidency.” The Journal of Politics 55(3): 756-764.

Campbell, James. 2013. “The Miserable Presidential Election of 2012: A First Party-Term Incumbent Survives.” The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics 10(4): 20-28.

Campbell, James. 2008. The American Campaign: U.S. Presidential Campaigns and the National Vote. College Station, Texas: Texas AM University Press.

Campbell, James. 2005. “Why Bush Won the Presidential Election of 2004: Incumbency, Ideology, Terrorism, and Turnout.” Political Science Quarterly 120(2): 219-241.

Cillizza, Chris. 2018. “5 Republicans who could challenge Donald Trump in 2020.” CNN Politics, August 1. https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/01/politics/2020-primary/index.html

Carter, Jimmy. 1982. Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President. New York: Bantam Books.

Cummings Jr., Milton. 1996. “Political Change Since the New Deal: The 1992 Presidential Election in Historical Perspective.” In American Presidential Elections: Process, Policy, and Political Change, edited by Harvey Schantz: 51- 92. New York: State University of New York Press.

Debenedetti, Gabriel. 2017. “2020 Race Lures Sprawling Democratic Field.” Politico, February 24. http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/democrats-2020-presidential-field-235335

DeFrank, Thomas. 2007. Write It When I’m Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R. Ford. New York: Berkley.

De Vogue, Ariane. 2017. “Democrats Already Are Trying To Get Out the Vote for 2020.” CNN Politics, January 14. http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/14/politics/voting-wars-democrats-2020/

Gallup. 2018. “Trump Job Approval (Weekly)”, Gallup. https://news.gallup.com/poll/203207/trump-job-approval-weekly.aspx

Glad, Betty. 1995. “How George Bush Lost the Presidential Election of 1992.” In The Clinton Presidency: Campaigning, Governing, and the Psychology of Leadership, edited by Stanley Renshon: 11-35. Colorado: Westview Press.

Graham, David. 2017. “Trump Kicks Off His 2020 Reelection Campaign on Saturday.” The Atlantic, February 15. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/trump-kicks-off-his-2020- reelection-campaign-on-saturday/516909/

Mayhew, David. 2008. “Incumbency Advantage in US Presidential Elections: The Historical Record.” Political Science Quarterly 123(2): 201-228.

Melusky, Joseph. 1981. “An Electoral College Fable: How the Carter-Ford Election Might have made Ronald Reagan President in 1976.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 11(3): 384-386.

Mieczkowski, Yanek. 2008. “Gerald Ford’s Near Miracle of 1976.” American History 42(6): 42-49.

Mieczkowski, Yanek. 2005. Gerald Ford and the Challenges of the 1970s. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.

Miller, Arthur. 1978. “Partisanship Reinstated? A Comparison of the 1972 and 1976 U.S. Presidential Elections.” British Journal of Political Science 8(2): 129-152.

Newport, Frank. 1998. “History Shows Presidential Job Approval Ratings Can Plummet Rapidly.” Gallup, September 20. http://www.gallup.com/poll/4258/history-shows-presidential-job-approval-ratings-can-plummet-rapidly.aspx

Patterson, James. 1996. Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974. New York: Oxford University Press.

Pomper, Gerald. 1981. “The Nomination Contests.” In The Election of 1980: Reports and Interpretations, edited by Marlene Pomper: 1-37. Chatham, New Jersey: Chatham House Publishers.

Popkin, Samuel. 2012. The Candidate: What it Takes to Win –and Hold– the White House. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Roper Center. n.d. “How Groups Voted in 1980.” Accessed March 10, 2017. https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/polls/us- elections/how-groups-voted/how-groups-voted-1980/

Sides, John, Michael Tesler, and Lynn Vavreck. 2016. “The Electoral Landscape of 2016.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 667(1): 50-71.

Snyder, Sarah. 2010. “Through the Looking Glass: The Helsinki Final Act and the 1976 Election for President.” Diplomacy Statecraft 21(1): 87-106.

The American Presidency Project. 2016. “Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections: 1828 – 2012.” Available at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/turnout.php

Thomas, Daniel. 2002. “Boomerangs and Superpowers: International Norms, Transnational Networks and US Foreign Policy.” Cambridge Review of International Affairs 15(1): 25-34.

Trump, Donald. 2007. Trump 101: The Way to Success. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Willey Sons.

Vavreck, Lynn. 2009. The Message Matters: The Economy and Presidential Campaigns. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Wayne, Stephen. 2012. The Road to the White House 2012: The Politics of Presidential Elections. Boston, MA: Cengage.

Weeks, Linton. 2012. “Why It’s Good To Be The Incumbent.” NPR, June 11. http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/06/11/154745966/why-its-good-to-be-the-incumbent

Weisberg, Herbert. 2002. “Partisanship and Incumbency in Presidential Elections.” Political Behavior 24(4): 339-360.

White, F. Clifton, and William Gill. 1981. Why Reagan Won: A Narrative History of the Conservative Movement 1964-1981. Chicago, Il: Regnery Gateway.

Williams, Philip, and Graham Wilson. 1977. “The 1976 Election and the American Political System.” Political Studies 25(2): 182-200.

Downloads

Published

2018-06-27

How to Cite

da Vinha, L. M., & Ernst, N. (2018). The Unfinished Presidencies: Why Incumbent Presidents May Lose Their Re-Election Bids: As Presidências Inacabadas: Por que os Presidentes em Exercício podem Perder a Reeleição. Perspectivas - Journal of Political Science, (18), 7–20. https://doi.org/10.21814/perspectivas.100

Issue

Section

Articles