National Influences on Election Outcomes for State Executive Offices

Abstract Many argue that American elections at all levels of government are now national affairs. Yet to what extent are state executive election outcomes influenced by national factors? Individual election outcomes are used to test the relative influences of national, state, and individual factors in elections for governor and secondary executive offices. The results reinforce the federalist nature of American elections by indicating that individual and state factors exert greater influence than national factors on state executive elections, especially for high-profile offices and, to a somewhat lesser degree for other, lesser-profile offices. Similar outcomes in national and state elections appear to result from the partisan composition of the electorate rather than top-down influences. The analysis supports the view that American federalism is alive and well in the electoral arena.