Voters' Verdicts: Citizens, Campaigns, and Institutions in State Supreme Court Elections

by Chris W. Bonneau, Damon M. Cann

Overview

In Voters’ Verdicts, Chris Bonneau and Damon Cann address contemporary concerns with judicial elections by investigating factors that influence voters’ decisions in the election of state supreme court judges. Bonneau and Cann demonstrate that the move to nonpartisan elections, while it depresses political participation, does little to mute the effects of partisanship and ideology. The authors note the irony that judicial elections, often faulted for politicizing the legal process, historically represented an attempt to correct the lack of accountability in the selection of judges by appointment, since unlike appointive systems, judicial elections are at least transparent.

This comprehensive study rests on a broad evidentiary base that spans numerous states and a variety of electoral systems. Bonneau and Cann use the first national survey of voters in state supreme court elections paired with novel laboratory experiments to evaluate the influence of incumbency and other ballot cues on voters’ decisions. Data-rich and analytically rigorous, this provocative volume shows why voters decide to participate in judicial elections and what factors they consider in casting their votes.

A volume in the series Constitutionalism and Democracy

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813937595
Publisher:	University of Virginia Press
Publication date:	07/07/2015
Series:	Constitutionalism and Democracy
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Chris W. Bonneau, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh, is coauthor with Melinda Gann Hall of In Defense of Judicial Elections. Damon M. Cann, Associate Professor of Political Science at Utah State University, is author of Sharing the Wealth: Member Contributions and the Exchange Theory of Party Influence in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: The Landscape of Judicial Elections 1

1 Individual-Level Factors and Voter Participation in State Supreme Court Elections 17

2 Vote Choice in State Supreme Court Elections 35

3 Voting Decisions in Partisan and Nonpartisan Elections 57

4 Does One Good Term Deserve Another? Incumbency and Vote Choice 69

5 Voting Yes: Retention Elections 85

6 Conclusion 101

Appendixes

A About the CCES 121

B List of Races Included in Study 123

C Experiments 131

Notes 139

References 147

Index 159

Editorial Reviews

Past survey-based studies have focused on one or two states, so the shift to a national survey is an important step. With this combination of individual-level data and a cross-state design, the authors could analyze the determinants of participation in supreme court elections and vote choice in new and valuable ways.

Law & Social Inquiry

In Voters' Verdicts Chris Bonneau and Damon Cann use a unique national dataset of individuals’ voting decisions to provide important new insights into the judicial election process. Those insights will be significant for the continuing debate over whether to reform the methods used to select and retain judges in the United States.

Herbert M. Kritzer

There can be no doubt whatsoever that this is a major contribution to the literatures on both state courts in general and judicial elections more specifically. This is an excellent book on a topic of great contemporary interest and importance.

James L. Gibson

Past survey-based studies have focused on one or two states, so the shift to a national survey is an important step. With this combination of individual-level data and a cross-state design, the authors could analyze the determinants of participation in supreme court elections and vote choice in new and valuable ways.

Law & Social Inquiry

"There can be no doubt whatsoever that this is a major contribution to the literatures on both state courts in general and judicial elections more specifically. This is an excellent book on a topic of great contemporary interest and importance. "—James L. Gibson, Washington University in St. Louis, author of Electing Judges: The Surprising Effects of Campaigning on Judicial Legitimacy

"In Voters' Verdicts Chris Bonneau and Damon Cann use a unique national dataset of individuals’ voting decisions to provide important new insights into the judicial election process. Those insights will be significant for the continuing debate over whether to reform the methods used to select and retain judges in the United States. "—Herbert M. Kritzer, University of Minnesota Law School, author of Justices on the Ballot: Continuity and Change in State Supreme Court Elections

"Past survey-based studies have focused on one or two states, so the shift to a national survey is an important step. With this combination of individual-level data and a cross-state design, the authors could analyze the determinants of participation in supreme court elections and vote choice in new and valuable ways. "—author of Law & Social Inquiry

From the Publisher

There can be no doubt whatsoever that this is a major contribution to both the literatures on state courts in general and on judicial elections more specifically. This is an excellent book on a topic of great contemporary interest and importance.

James Gibson