Appendix B Table B1: Explaining Attitudes about Electoral Context

Appendix B: Table B2:  Two-Stage Least Squares Models of Political Support

Appendix C: Congratulation-Rationalization index for 1998 Gubernatorial Survey

Appendix D: Codebook for the March 2001 Florida Voter survey (pdf)

Appendix E:  Source code for analyses (zip)

Appendix A: Question Wordings and Response Codes, 2001 Florida state survey

Political Trust (mean score on two items, Cronbach's α = .53, mean inter-item correlation = .42).

(1) How much of the time do you think you can trust the people who run our government to do what is right – just about always, most of the time, only some of the time or almost never?
    1.00 Just about always            0.33 Only some of the time
    0.67 Most of the time                0.00 Almost never
(2) Would you say the government is pretty much run by a few big interests looking out for themselves, or that it is run for the benefit of all the people?
    0.00 Few big interests            1.00 Benefit of all
    0.50 Mixed/In-between (VOL)

Responsiveness of Government (mean score on two items, Cronbach's α = .66, mean inter-item correlation = .49).
(1) Over the years, how much attention do you feel the government pays to what the people think when it decides what to do – a good deal, some, or not much?
(2) And how much do you feel that having elections makes the government pay attention to what the people think – a good deal, some, or not much?
    1.00 A good deal                0.00 Not much
    0.50 Some

Satisfaction with Democracy (one item).
On the whole, how satisfied are you with the way democracy works in the United States – satisfied, fairly satisfied, not very satisfied, or not at all satisfied?
    1.00 Satisfied                    0.33 Not very satisfied
    0.67 Fairly satisfied                0.00 Not at all satisfied

Bush Legitimacy (one item).
People have different views about whether or not George W. Bush is the legitimate president of the United States. Do you accept him as entirely legitimate, accept him as somewhat legitimate, or do you not accept him as legitimate at all?
    1.00 Entirely legitimate            0.00 Not legitimate at all
    0.50 Somewhat legitimate

Congratulation-Rationalization (mean score on eight items, Cronbach's α = .79, mean inter-item correlation = .31).
People have expressed different opinions about why last year's election turned out the way it did. What I'd like to do next is read you a series of statements, and have you tell me how much you think each one applies to the Bush-Gore campaign for president. The first statement is. . . . Do you think this statement describes what happened in the president's race extremely well, fairly well, only slightly, or not at all?
(1) Voters chose George Bush because of his commitment to smaller government and lower taxes.
(2) Voters preferred George Bush because they were tired of all the partisan bickering that took place between Congress and the White House during the Clinton years.
(3) Voters preferred George Bush because they felt he would do a better job of dealing with the nation's most important problems, such as education, crime, and national defense.
(4) George Bush won because, after eight years of Bill Clinton, voters wanted someone who would be honest and who could be trusted not to embarrass the office of the presidency.
    1.00 Extremely well                0.33 Only slightly
    0.67 Fairly well                0.00 Not at all
(5) George Bush won because the powerful special interests in this country wanted him to win. (6) Al Gore lost because too many voters just don't understand the issues well enough to make an intelligent choice.
(7) Al Gore's problem was that he wasn't able to persuade voters to give Democrats the credit they deserved for getting the nation's economy back on its feet in the 1990s.
(8) George Bush won because he fooled people into believing that he was a different kind of conservative – one who was less right-wing and more middle-of-the-road than he really is.
    0.00 Extremely well                0.67 Only slightly
    0.33 Fairly well                1.00 Not at all

Satisfaction with Choice of Candidates (one item).
Thinking about last year's election again . . . Compared to past presidential elections, how satisfied were you with the choice of candidates that voters had to pick from – very satisfied, fairly satisfied, not very satisfied, or not at all satisfied?
    1.00 Very satisfied                0.33 Not very satisfied
    0.67 Fairly satisfied                0.00 Not at all satisfied

Procedural Fairness (mean score on three items, Cronbach's α = .76, mean inter-item correlation = .51).
(1) In some countries, people believe their elections are conducted fairly. In other countries, people believe that their elections are conducted unfairly. Overall, do you believe that elections in the United States are very fair, somewhat fair, somewhat unfair, or very unfair?
    1.00 Very fair                    0.33 Somewhat unfair
    0.67 Somewhat fair                0.00 Very unfair
    0.50 Mixed/neither fair nor unfair (VOL)

(2) George Bush really didn't win the election at all – the only reason he is president today is because the votes in Florida weren't counted properly. [Do you think this statement describes what happened in the president's race extremely well, fairly well, only slightly, or not at all?]
    0.00 Extremely well                0.33 Only slightly
    0.67 Fairly well                0.00 Not at all

(3) As you know, last December, a majority of justices on the U. S. Supreme Court decided that the state of Florida could not have a hand recount of the votes in the presidential election. As a result, Al Gore conceded the election and George W. Bush became president. Do you think that the justices on the Supreme Court who voted to end the recount in Florida did so based mostly on the legal merits of the case, or based mostly on their own desire to have Bush as the next president?
    1.00 Legal merits of the case            0.00 Desire to have Bush as next president
    0.50 Desire to avoid constitutional crisis/prolonged delay in picking president (VOL)

Party Identification (one item).
Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as a Democrat, Republican, Independent or what? (If partisan) Would you call yourself a strong Democrat/Republican, or a not very strong Democrat/Republican? (If Independent) Do you think of yourself as closer to the Democratic Party or to the Republican Party?
    0.00 Strong Democrat                4.00 Leaning Republican
    1.00 Weak Democrat                5.00 Weak Republican
    2.00 Leaning Democrat            6.00 Strong Republican
    3.00 Independent

Interest in Politics (one item).
Some people seem to follow what's going on in government and public affairs most of the time, whether there's an election going on or not. Others aren't that interested. Would you say you follow what's going on in government and public affairs most of the time, some of the time, only now and then, or hardly at all?
    1.00 Most of the time                0.33 Only some of the time
    0.67 Some of the time                0.00 Hardly at all

Appendix C:  Congratulation-Rationalization index for 1998 Gubernatorial Survey


Using the same question wording and response format as with our 2001 measure of congratulation-rationalization (see Appendix A), respondents were asked to evaluate the following statements: (a) Voters preferred the candidate with the most personal charisma – that is, Jeb Bush won because he was a fresh face with new ideas. (b) Voters chose Jeb Bush because of his commitment to smaller government and lower taxes. (c) Buddy MacKay's problem was that his party never got its act together – a better-organized campaign by the Democrats would have made a big difference. (d) Jeb Bush's victory had a lot to do with his willingness to reach out to certain groups – for example, African-Americans and other minorities – that Democrats usually take for granted. (e) Jeb Bush would never have won except for the fact that he is the son of a former president. (f) Voters rejected Buddy MacKay because his campaign was too negative – all he ever did was attack Jeb Bush without ever giving people a positive program of his own to support. (g) Jeb Bush did better in 1998 than when he ran for governor four years ago [and lost to incumbent Democrat Lawton Chiles] because his campaign this time was less right-wing and more middle-of-the-road. (h) Jeb Bush won because the powerful special interests in Florida wanted him to win. (i) Voters preferred Jeb Bush because they felt he would do a better job of dealing with Florida’s most important problems, such as education and crime. (j) Buddy MacKay lost because too many voters just don’t understand the issues well enough to make an intelligent choice.