The Parties in American Presidential Elections, 1789–2020

Chapter 7 Negative Partisanship, Performative Partisanship, and the 2024 Presidential Election and Beyond

When we take a step back and take the longer view of our history of presidential campaigning from the earliest elections of the 1790s through the early decades of the 21^st century, it is defined as much as it has ever been around the hyper-partisan, bitterly polarized campaigning for our nation’s highest offices. Today, some of the leading scholars in political science tell us that most voters cast their votes against a candidate they dislike, as much as for one that they favor.

The theory of negative partisanship is leading the way in the study of campaigning in the United States today, as we know that most voters cast their votes against ...