ABSTRACT
The interplay of ideological extremity and perceived distance to parties and candidates in issue space accounts nicely for important aspects of presidential election competition between 1968 and 1980. The classic studies of the American electorate had focused on prospective issues: policy questions that would be decided as a consequence of the election result. Retrospective issue voting clearly demands less of a citizen than prospective issue voting does. Retrospective voting also allows effective citizen control of government. Prosperity had previously been linked with class and social welfare as a cluster of pro-Democratic economic dimensions. New domestic issues are of course a combination of the usually Republican Social Issue and the usually Democratic New Politics. The kinds of economic factors reviewed in this chapter make clear why perceived distance and issue orientation measures missed the attitudinal basis for Republican victories.
