The ability of the mass public to recall the name of the incumbent congressional repre sentative is compared to the ability to recognize their congressman's name. Name recog nition is substantially higher than name recall. The implications for the study of congres sional elections are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Cook, R. (1977) "House races: more money to incumbents." Congressional Quarterly35 (October 29): 2299.
2.
Ferejohn, J. (1977) "On the decline of competition in congressional elections." Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev.71 (March): 166-176.
3.
Fiorina, M. (1977) Congress: Keystone of the Washington Establishment . New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
4.
Harris, L. (1972) "Polls and politics in the United States," in R. Agranoff (ed.) The New Style in Election Campaigns. Boston: Holbrook Press.
5.
Kernell, S. (1977) "Presidential popularity and negative voting: an alternative explanation of the midterm congressional decline of the president's party." Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev.71 (March): 44-67.
6.
Mann, T. (1978) Unsafe at Any Margin: Interpreting Congressional Elections. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.
7.
Mayhew, D. (1974) Congress: The Electoral Connection. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
8.
Stokes, D.E. (1967) "Parties and the nationalization of electoral forces ," pp. 182-202 in W. Chambers and W. D. Burnham (eds.) American Party Systems: Stages of Political Development. Cambridge: Winthrop .
9.
——— and W.E. Miller (1965) "Party government and the saliency of congress ," pp. 194-211 in A. Campbell, P. Converse, W. Miller, and D. Stokes (eds.) Elections and the Political Order. New York: John Wiley.
10.
Tufte, E. (1975) "Determinants of the outcomes of midterm congressional elections." Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev.69 (September): 812-826.
