ABSTRACT
This chapter describes that the Democrats’ voter base has declined dramatically, as have their seat totals in Congress and in state governments. The literature acknowledges the importance of partisan identification. For example, the authors of The Personal Vote wrote, “Even in the United States the single most important variable affecting the congressional vote remains the voters partisan identification.” The Democrats lack a message as intense and as focused as the Republicans have. The Republican message promises tax cuts, spending cuts, regulatory ease, support for school prayer, and opposition to abortion. The literature has shown a decline across several decades in voters’ disposition to vote consistently for the same party. The decline in Democratic Party identifiers was accompanied, with a significant lag, by an unprecedented decline in Democratic seat totals in the House in the 1990s. The decline of the Democrats’ voter base occurred despite changes that strengthened their congressional party in the same period.
