Understanding the Party Brand: Experimental Evidence on the Role of Valence

摘要: The valence component of a party’s reputation, or brand, has been less scrutinized than other components party-based theories legislatures. This lack scrutiny results from the difficulty isolating policy-related and studying legislators’ motives. We overcome these challenges by conducting survey experiments on both voters state legislators that show (1) scholars have underestimated impact party brand’s potential role in elections, (2) legislative leaders pressure members more votes when outcome affects (3) value brand can sometimes directly affect votes. Our provide rationale for why put so much effort into media spin battles suggest parties’ reputations leaders’ ability to pass their agenda.