This article asks why parties change their policy positions, focusing upon the evolution of Democratic Party tax policy in the US from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s. It assesses the ability of two models to explain policy change. The external model posits that party tax policy changes in response to external influences, including the economy and public opinion, while the internal model holds that policy changes for internal reasons, including the adoption of an economic theory, such as Keynesianism, by party elites. The results indicate that party tax policy most often responded to the external influence of the economy during the years under study. Contrary to democratic theory, the research concludes that public opinion failed to drive policy change. Instead, following many recent studies, the evidence suggests that party elites led changes in public opinion on taxes.
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