17 results on '"Gerrity, Jessica C."'
Search Results
2. The Interest Group: Staff Connection in Congress: Access and Influence in Personal, Committee, and Leadership Offices
- Author
-
Gerrity, Jessica C., Hardt, Nancy S., and Lavelle, Kathryn C.
- Published
- 2008
3. How abortion became a partisan issue: media coverage of the interest group-political party connection
- Author
-
Carmines, Edward G., Gerrity, Jessica C., and Wagner, Michael W.
- Subjects
Abortion -- Political aspects -- Social aspects ,Bipartisanship (Politics) -- Social aspects -- Political aspects ,Political science - Abstract
That Democrats are widely perceived as a pro-choice party while Republicans are generally perceived as a pro-life party seems apparent to even the most casual observer of American politics. Yet, this perception was not always as clear as it is today. Our understanding of the partisan evolution of the abortion issue in the United States is informed by previous research demonstrating that changes in the abortion issue at both the elite and mass level conform to Carmines and Stimson's issue evolution model of partisan dynamics. However, an important piece of this puzzle remains unresolved--how does the issue differentiation between the parties get communicated from elite party actors to the mass public? Analyzing over 30 years of several sources of news coverage on abortion, we show that over time, news stories revealed a closer link between particular interest groups and political parties, with the Republican Party becoming aligned with pro-life interest groups while the Democrats were identified with pro-choice groups. We posit that media coverage of the interaction between interest groups and political parties on abortion highlighted the issue's increasing political relevance in the minds of the American public and helped to communicate the parties' evolving issue positions to the wider electorate. Keywords: U.S. Political Parties, Interest Groups, Abortion Policy, Framing, Issue Evolution. Que el partido democrata esta a favor del aborto mientras que el partido republicano esta en contra parece obvio aun para cualquier observador de la politica estadounidense. A pesar de esto, esta division no siempre fue tan clara como lo es ahora. Nuestra comprension de la evolucion del topico del aborto en los partidos de los Estados Unidos esta fundada en investigaciones previas que demuestran que los cambios en el tema del aborto, tanto en la elite como el publico, se ajustan al modelo de evolucion de las dinamicas partidistas de Carmines and Stimson. Sin embargo, una pieza importante de este rompecabezas queda sin resolver--[??]como se comunican las diferencias entre las posturas partidistas sobre diversos asuntos, desde las elites partidistas al publico en general? Analizando varias fuentes sobre la cobertura de noticias del aborto por cerca de 30 anos, demostramos que a traves del tiempo las noticias revelan un vinculo mas cercano entre grupos de intereses particulares y los partidos politicos, con el partido republicano favoreciendo a los grupos de interes pro-vida y los democratas a los grupos pro-aborto. Proponemos que la cobertura de los medios sobre la interaccion entre los grupos de interes y los partidos politicos sobre el aborto puso de manifiesto la creciente relevancia del topico en las mentes del publico estadounidense y ayudo a comunicar al electorado como evolucionaron las posiciones de los partidos., Over the past several decades, the Republican and Democratic parties have become increasingly divided along the lines of a religious and social cleavage (Claggett and Shafer 2010; Layman 2001). Foremost [...]
- Published
- 2010
4. Trump raided Congress for his Cabinet, giving us four special elections. Will that hurt Republicans?
- Author
-
Doherty, Brendan J. and Gerrity, Jessica C.
- Subjects
Members of Congress (United States) -- Appointments, resignations and dismissals ,President of the United States -- Political activity ,Cabinet officials (U.S. federal government) -- Political activity ,Business ,Computers and office automation industries ,Telecommunications industry ,Republican Party (United States) -- Political activity - Abstract
Byline: Brendan J. Doherty;Jessica C. Gerrity The closely watched special elections this spring and summer in Georgia, Kansas, Montana and South Carolina have something important in common: Trump created the [...]
- Published
- 2017
5. The Politics of Ego: Senatorial Front Office Presentation of Self
- Author
-
Doherty, Brendan J., primary and Gerrity, Jessica C., additional
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
6. Women and Representation: A Different View of the District?
- Author
-
Gerrity, Jessica C., primary, Osborn, Tracy, additional, and Mendez, Jeanette Morehouse, additional
- Published
- 2007
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
7. THE ELECTORAL IMPLICATIONS OF PRESIDENTS SELECTING CABINET MEMBERS FROM THE CONGRESS, 1977-2013.
- Author
-
DOHERTY, BRENDAN J. and GERRITY, JESSICA C.
- Subjects
- *
CABINET officers , *APPOINTMENT to public office , *PRESIDENTS of the United States - Abstract
This paper explores an important but unexamined element of presidential cabinet appointments - their electoral implications. To what extent do presidents make strategic appointments to their cabinet of sitting members of the House and Senate that help their party to pick up congressional seats from the other party or that minimize the chances that the other party will take seats vacated by appointees of the president's party? To analyze these dynamics, we examine whether House and Senate appointees to cabinet or cabinet-rank posts over the 37 years from 1977 through 2013 come from safe seats or competitive seats and whether senators appointed by the president primarily come from states with governors of the same party who have the power to appoint an interim senator. We find that recent presidents have infrequently selected sitting members of the House and Senate for cabinet or cabinet-rank service, and that presidents have almost never nominated sitting members of Congress from the other party for cabinet service, and thus do not use these picks to seek electoral gain for their party. Presidents have been mostly risk averse when appointing sitting members of Congress from their own party to the cabinet, but in certain instances presidents have run clear electoral risk by opening a congressional seat in the wake of a cabinet appointment, and at times have seen their party suffer the long-term loss of both House and Senate seats as a result. This research sheds light on the important tensions that at times exist between a president choosing the team he feels he needs for his cabinet and the electoral prospects of his political party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2010
8. THE POLITICS OF EGO: SENATORIAL FRONT OFFICE PRESENTATION OF SELF.
- Author
-
DOHERTY, BRENDAN J. and GERRITY, JESSICA C.
- Subjects
- *
SCHOLARS , *CONSTITUENT power , *CONSTITUENTS (Persons) , *STAKEHOLDERS , *VOTERS - Abstract
Many scholars have studied elected officials' presentation of self, typically through examination of behavior in their districts, speeches, and web sites. In this paper, the authors examine a little-studied but telling element of U.S. senators' presentation of self-the images they display to constituents and others visiting their offices in Washington, D.C. We analyze both the total amount of items displayed as well as the number that focus on the senators themselves, and find that having run for president, being a Republican, and representing a state closer to Washington, D.C., all predict a senator having more self-centered front office dé cor, while having served more years in the chamber and hailing from a state closer to the nation's capital are associated with greater sheer number of items displayed in a senator's front office. Our findings shed light upon how senators view themselves and hope to shape the perceptions of their personality and legislative records in the eyes of the people to whom they owe their public office. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2009
9. Reinforcing Inequalities: The Perverse Consequences of a Strong Interest Group Sector.
- Author
-
Barakso, Maryann, Gerrity, Jessica C., and Schaffner, Brian F.
- Subjects
- *
PRESSURE groups , *GRANTS in aid (Public finance) , *EQUALITY , *REPRESENTATIVE government , *POLITICAL science - Abstract
We find that communities with stronger interest group sectors received more federal grants than those with weaker associational systems. This is important because we also find that groups are less common in areas that appear to need them more. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008
10. Congressional Use of Interest Group Policy Messages.
- Author
-
Gerrity, Jessica C.
- Subjects
- *
CAMPAIGN funds , *PRESSURE groups , *FUNDRAISING , *ELECTIONS - Abstract
This paper uses content analysis of interest group materials and Congressional Record statements, as well as campaign finance records, to explore the relationship between interest group information provision and congressional information use. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008
11. The Interest Group: Staff Connection in Congress: Access and Influence in Member, Committee, and Leadership Offices.
- Author
-
Gerrity, Jessica C., Hardt, Nancy S., and Lavelle, Kathryn C.
- Subjects
- *
PRESSURE groups , *UNITED States legislators , *LEADERSHIP - Abstract
The paper compares experiences of three recent APSA Congressional fellows with interest groups' influence in a Senate personal office, House committee staff office, and the House leadership office. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008
12. Presenting a United Front: Similarities and Differences between Interest Group and Congressional Issue Framing.
- Author
-
Gerrity, Jessica C.
- Subjects
- *
PRESSURE groups , *ABORTION laws , *POLITICAL science , *POLITICAL participation ,UNITED States Congressional voting - Abstract
This paper examines how interest groups strategically frame political issues and how this activity translates in congressional debates. At the heart of this research lie questions about the ability of political elites to affect the role and structure of issue debates. These are longstanding theoretical questions in the political science literature (Riker 1980, 1993; Jones 1994), but empirically under-examined by interest groups scholars. While scholarship often looks for interest group influence in congressional roll call votes or committee behavior, a more pervasive form of influence may be found in how interest groups affect the framing of the policy debate. To explore this relationship, I examine interest group and congressional framing of the partial birth abortion issue over a four year period between 1995 and 1998. The analysis is conducted in two stages. First, I use content analysis of interest group inputs and outputs to examine similarities and differences in interest group and congressional framing. Second, I explore the factors that explain a Member's propensity to promote an interest group's frames using a Heckman selection model. The results of the content analysis suggest a high level of unity between interest group and congressional framing efforts on the partial birth abortion issue. The statistical evidence suggests a link between interest group activity and congressional framing activity. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006
13. How Parties Alter Their Reputations on Losing Issues: The Case of Democrats and Crime.
- Author
-
Carmines, Edward G., Gerrity, Jessica C., and Wagner, Michael W.
- Subjects
- *
POLITICAL parties , *CRIME , *PRESS & politics , *CRIMINAL sentencing , *POLITICAL science - Abstract
How do parties alter their positions on losing issues? We examine how the Democratic party tried to neutralize the Republican party's advantage on crime issues. We analyze media coverage of criminal sentencing issues from 1969-2000 and compare it to public preferences regarding which party would be better at handling crime. We show that as Democrats provided more consistent "tough on crime" messages, the public came to see the Democratic party as one that could effectively handle crime issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2005
14. Evolving Strategies: The Abortion Issue and the Evolution of Interest Groups' PAC Activity.
- Author
-
Gerrity, Jessica C.
- Subjects
- *
POLITICAL action committees , *ABORTION , *LOGITS , *PRESSURE groups , *BIRTH control , *CONFLICT of interests - Abstract
In this paper I examine the evolution of PAC activity surrounding the abortion issue. I posit that as the abortion issue grew increasingly more partisan and more salient that interest group strategies changed in response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2005
15. The New Polarization in American Politics: Interest Groups, Mass Media and Contestation of the Abortion Issue.
- Author
-
Gerrity, Jessica C., Wagner, Michael W., and Carmines, Edward G.
- Subjects
- *
PRESSURE groups , *ABORTION , *MASS media , *PRO-life movement - Abstract
The New Polarization in American Politics: Interest Groups, Mass Media and Contestation of the Abortion Issue How does a public problem become a partisan issue? This paper analyzes this question by examining interest groups? use of the media regarding the abortion issue. When interest groups supporting and opposing abortion arrived on the political scene in the early 1970s, there was uncertainty about who their potential allies and opponents would be. In particular, the Republican and Democratic parties had not yet developed clear and opposing positions on the issue. Over the next three decades, however, pro-life groups became firmly attached to the Republican Party while pro-choice groups became a mainstay of the Democratic Party. We examine how this interest group/political party connection developed by analyzing the way that abortion was treated in the mass media. Our guiding hypothesis is that media references to abortion not only became more frequent during this period reflecting the growing salience of the issue but that coverage increasingly indicated that pro-life groups were positively identifying with the Republican Party while pro-choice groups were becoming more closely aligned with the Democratic Party. In other words, we argue that media coverage of abortion helped facilitate a clarification of conflict surrounding the issue?a clarification that eventually led pro-life groups to the Republican Party and pro-choice groups toward the Democratic Party. In order to examine this process empirically we will create two indexes of media coverage of abortion for the thirty period, 1973-2003. The first will simply record the frequency of media stories concerning the issue that include a reference to interest groups. The second index will focus on the content of these stories, specifically on the extent and manner in which opposing interest groups are mentioned in conjunction with the Republican and Democratic parties. We will measure whether over time pro-life groups display increasing positive affect toward the Republican Party while becoming increasingly negative toward the Democratic Party and whether the reverse is equally true among pro-choice interest groups. Interest groups on both sides of the abortion issue spearheaded the growing polarization of the parties on this issue. Their crucial role in this process, we believe, can be well documented through an examination of the mass media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
16. Women and Representation: ADifferent View of the District?
- Author
-
Gerrity, Jessica C., Osborn, Tracy, and Morehouse, Jeanette Morehouse
- Subjects
- *
LEGISLATORS , *WOMEN in politics , *WOMEN legislators , *POLITICAL parties , *PUBLIC officers - Abstract
Studies of women in Congress often focus on the differences between women and men as legislators. Particularly, they often ask whether the unique experiences and viewpoints women bring to the policy making process make women stronger advocates of a women’s issues policy agenda. Typically, this question is examined by comparing men and women’s legislative behavior as two groups in a specific legislative institution (e.g. Swers 2002; Reingold 2000; Thomas 1994). From these comparisons, we know women as a group introduce more bills than men that relate to women’s issues, and they support these bills in various ways throughout the legislative process. On the other hand, Congressional studies continue to focus on district-level influences on legislators’ behavior, because of the need for MCs to please their constituencies to aid in reelection (Mayhew). It remains difficult to determine the extent to which gender, in relation to partisanship or district characteristics, shapes women’s pursuit of a women’s policy agenda. In this paper, we attempt to understand the impact of gender on women’s legislative behavior in a different way, by attempting to hold constant district and party variables. We compare whether women and men legislators represent the same district differently. In cases where a woman of the same political party is elected to a congressional seat previously held by a man, does she represent this district differently with respect to gender? We focus on two questions: 1. Do women legislators introduce more bills about women’s issues than the male legislator who held the seat previously? 2. Do women legislators talk about women’s issues more in their comments on the floor than the male legislator who held the seat previously? To answer these questions, our cases are men and women who served the same district in the 105th through 107th (1996-2002) Congresses, during which no redistricting took place and Republicans maintained majority control of the House of Representatives. We expect to find women do focus more attention on women’s issues by introducing more bills and talking more about women’s issues than their male counterpart who represented that district before them, presenting further evidence for the importance of women representing women in Congress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
17. THE ELECTORAL IMPLICATIONS OF PRESIDENTS SELECTING CABINET MEMBERS FROM THE CONGRESS, 1977-2016.
- Author
-
Doherty, Brendan J. and Gerrity, Jessica C.
- Subjects
CABINET system ,UNITED States elections ,UNITED States politics & government - Abstract
This study examines the extent to which presidents have been electorally opportunistic or risk averse when selecting sitting members of the House and Senate for Cabinet or Cabinet-rank posts from 1977 through 2016. The authors find that recent presidents have almost never nominated sitting members of Congress from the other party for Cabinet service and thus have not sought thereby to enhance their party's electoral prospects. Presidents have been mostly risk averse when appointing members of Congress from their own party, but in certain instances presidents have created clear electoral danger by opening a competitive House or Senate seat in the wake of a Cabinet appointment, at times resulting in long-term loss for their party. The political landscape appears to matter as well, as strategic presidents have made electorally risky Cabinet selections only when their party enjoyed a comfortable majority in the relevant chamber of Congress, mitigating the potential effects of a subsequent electoral loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2014
Catalog
Discovery Service for Jio Institute Digital Library
For full access to our library's resources, please sign in.