Hoover Institution
09/24/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/24/2024 05:32
Historical Context: An Era of Tenuous Majorities Continues
The United States is currently experiencing a historically unprecedented period of electoral instability. Describing this period, Fiorina shows how it contrasts with earlier periods in American electoral history and explains how the sorting of the two major political parties into ideologically opposing organizations does not well represent the larger electorate-resulting in the inability of either party to forge lasting majorities.
Takeaways
- The United States currently is experiencing a historically unprecedented period of electoral instability.
- Party donors and activists are motivated relatively more by ideology and policies and less by material incentives like jobs than in earlier periods of American history.
- The Democratic Party and the Republican Party are each more internally homogeneous and their positions are further from each other than is usual in American history.
- When in office, either party attempts to impose policies more extreme than the electorate at large prefers. The resulting reaction produces new majorities.
About the Author
Morris Fiorina is a professor of political science at Stanford University and a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution. He has written or edited fourteen books, most recently Who Governs? Emergency Powers in the Time of COVID. An elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, Fiorina has received career achievement awards from two sections of the American Political Science Association.
An Era of Unstable Majorities Continues
A continuation of the Hoover Institution's Unstable Majorities series from the 2016 election season, the first half of this essay series leads up to the November 2024 elections with general discussions of the past and present political situation, of particular interest to students and professionals in the fields of political science and political journalism. The second half continues post-election with analyses focused specifically on the 2024 elections, addressed to a wider audience. The series begins by looking back at the issues raised in 2016 that continue today.