Directing Electoral Appeals Away From the Center: Issue Position and Issue Salience

Abstract

This study analyzes issues used repeatedly by the ANES in studying presidential races, 1972-88. Three conclusions stand out in the findings: (1) on issues offering concentrated benefits and diffuse or deferred costs, there is a correlation between issue position and issue salience; (2) those issues tend to be most salient to strong proponents, and of almost no salience to strong opponents; (3) consequently, the optimal candidate lo cation on such issues is not at the mean preference of the electorate, but between that preference and the preference of the strong proponents of each issue.