The tendency for a popular candidate to attract votes for other candidates of the same party
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The coattail effect or down-ballot effect is the tendency for a popular political party leader to attract votes for other candidates of the same party in an election. For example, in the United States, the party of a victorious presidential candidate will often win many seats in Congress as well; these Members of Congress are voted into office "on the coattails" of the president.
This theory is prevalent at all levels of government. Popular statewide candidates for governor or senator can attract support for down ballot races of their party as well.
This is prevalent in the United Kingdom and Canada especially in a general election. People have a tendency to vote on the basis of a political party instead of the MP for their area.
This also refers to the phenomenon that members of the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives are more likely to be voted for on a year of the presidential election than a midterm.[1]
The "coattail effect" is not usually caused by popular candidates convincing swing voters to cast their ballots for their party, although this is not unheard of. Rather, the effect often stems from popular candidates driving voter turnout among their own party base, people who are likely to vote for down-ballot party candidates anyway.
The "coattail effect" has also been used to derogatorily describe the effect of Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) in Singapore, where candidates for Parliament run on a party slate of 3 to 6 candidates. This allows weak candidates to get elected "riding on the coattails" of strong candidates on their slate.
Riding the coattails can be used as a generic metaphor that refers to one who achieves some level of success or notability primarily through association with someone else.[2]
^Magleby, David B.; O'Brien, David M.; Light, Paul C.; Cronin, Thomas E.; Peltason, J. W. (2007). Government by the People, National, State, Local. Prentice Hall. pp. 319–323. ISBN 9780132391498.
^"Ride Coattails idiom definition". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
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