Likes and Dislikes about Political Parties
Wattenberg offers evidence of party decline from
questions about respondents' "likes" and "dislikes" about
the parties. Respondents in the National Election Studies were asked
two pairs of questions about what they liked and disliked
about the parties. Responses to each pair of questions were written down,
classified for type, rated for positive and negative nature,
and counted. Over the span of elections that Wattenberg
studied, he found that citizens tended to offer fewer likes
and dislikes about the parties. He offers this as
evidence that voters have come to regard parties as less
relevant to politics.