The State of the Parties 2022brings together leading scholars of parties, elections, and interest groups to provide an indispensable overview of American political parties today. The 2020 presidential election was extraordinary. What role did political parties play in these events? How did the party organizations fare? What are the implications for the future? Scholars and practitioners from throughout the United States explore the current state of American party organizations, constituencies and resources at the national, state and local level.

John C. Green is the Emeritus Director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron. A respected analyst of Ohio and national politics, his work has been widely cited and quoted by scholars and journalists alike.

David B. Cohen is a professor of political science, Director of the Applied Politics Program, and Fellow of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at The University of Akron. He teaches courses and conducts research on the American presidency, Congress, and homeland security.

Kenneth M. Miller is an assistant professor of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His research interests and publications include campaign finance, elections, and representation.

List of Tables

List of Figures

Acknowledgments

The State of the Parties: Change and Continuity in 2020

John C. Green, Kenneth M. Miller, and David B. Cohen

Part I: State of the Parties

An Era of Unstable Majorities Continues

Morris P. Fiorina

Activists Versus Voters: Intra-party Warfare in the Modern World

Byron E. Shafer and Regina L. Wagner

Congressional Primary Challenges and the Health of the Parties

Robert G. Boatright

Part II: Partisan Voters

Peak Polarization? The Rise of Partisan-Ideological Consistency and its Consequences

Alan I. Abramowitz

Political Identity and Beliefs about Stolen Elections in the American Electorate

Anita Manion, David C. Kimball, and Adriano Udani

Major Party Factions in a Battleground State: Self-Identified Factional Affiliation among Pennsylvania Voters

Stephen K. Medvic and Berwood A. Yost

Blue Metros, Red States: The Geography of the 2020 Vote in the Swing States

David F. Damore, Karen A. Danielsen, and Robert E. Lang

Turning the Natural State Red: The Rise of the GOP in Arkansas

John C. Davis

Part III: Partisan Activity

Nationalized Congressional Finance: Evidence from 2018 and 2020

Kenneth M. Miller

The Ground Game in 2020: Party Contacts as Reported by Voters

Paul A. Beck

From Tea Party to Trump Party

Ronald B. Rapoport and W. Henry Crossman

Part IV: Women and Party Politics

The Partisan Gap among Women in Elective Office: 2020 and Beyond

Laurel Elder

Fired Up or Falling Flat: Recruitment of Women Candidates during the Trump Administration

Shannon McQueen

The Super Women and the Super Men behind Super PACs: A New Source of Inequality

Paul S. Herrnson and Jennifer A. Heerwig

References

Index

About the Contributors