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This article reports on the issue of differences in party voting in the U.S. House. Differences in party voting are on the rise in the U.S. House, with the increase generally regarded as beginning somewhere in the 1970's. Polarization may be measured as the percentage of party votes and party cohesion. Regardless of the measurement, polarization between the parties in the House is increasing. After the 1970's, Democrats have become more liberal and Republicans somewhat more conservative, resulting in a growing difference between the two parties across the 1980's and 1990's.

Assesses the relationship of district income to partisan outcomes across states in the U.S. Utilization of district data from The Almanac of State Legislatures and a file of winners of legislative elections; Effect of diversity within states; Uniqueness on patterns of partisan cleavages of each state.

It is widely argued that legislative resources enable incumbents to increase their margins of victory. Changes within the New York Senate provide an opportunity to assess this thesis. Within a few years during the early 1970s, legislative resources increased substantially and abruptly. The legislative budget increased, a legislative office building opened, and district offices were established. There were also strong political motivations for the Senate legislative parties to become more concerned with retaining incumbent legislators. This analysis assesses changes in electoral margins from 1950 to 1990 and finds a distinct change in average margins of victory after the early 1970s. In addition, in the era after 1974, legislators experienced significantly larger sophomore surges. The greatest increases were among those whose initial elections were close, a finding which suggests that resources are targeted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]