Campaign Rhetoric and the Incumbency Advantage

• Author: Michael Parkin,Martin J. Kifer,James N. Druckman
• DOI: 10.1177/1532673X18822314
• Published date: 01 January 2020
• Date: 01 January 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X18822314

American Politics Research

2020, Vol. 48(1) 22 –43

© The Author(s) 2019

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DOI: 10.1177/1532673X18822314

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Article

Campaign Rhetoric

and the Incumbency

Advantage

James N. Druckman1, Martin J. Kifer2,

and Michael Parkin3

Abstract

The congressional incumbency advantage reflects an inequity in

competition—candidates receive an electoral edge simply because they

hold office. Scholars have identified an array of factors that contribute to

the incumbency advantage; however, the role of electoral campaigns has

been largely ignored. We argue that campaigns are a mechanism through

which the incumbency advantage works. All else constant, incumbents

focus their campaigns on factors that reflect their standing position, such

as their familiarity to voters and actions taken for their district/state.

Voters consequently rely on such incumbency factors when making their

decisions. The outcome is challengers are at an extreme disadvantage,

and campaigns offer scant substantive engagement. We offer evidence for

these dynamics with a large-scale content analysis of campaign websites

and an experiment. In so doing, we highlight a challenge to theories

of democratic representation that focus on equal competition and/or

substantive campaign engagement.

Keywords

campaigns, Internet politics, experiment, incumbency, elections

1Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

2High Point University, NC, USA

3Oberlin College, OH, USA

Corresponding Author:

Martin J. Kifer, High Point University, One University Parkway, Drawer #34, High Point, NC

27268, USA.

Email: mkifer@highpoint.edu

822314APRXXX10.1177/1532673X18822314American Politics ResearchDruckman et al.

research-article2019

Druckman et al. 23

Competition is fundamental to democracy because it ensures choice for

citizens and facilitates electoral accountability. Substantial scholarship

shows how institutions, particularly electoral systems, influence the

nature of competition and can, at times, privilege certain office seekers.

One widely discussed manifestation concerns the “incumbency advan-

tage” in U.S. congressional elections. This refers to the electoral benefit a

candidate receives simply due to being an incumbent, holding all else

constant. Various measures show that the incumbency advantage has fluc-

tuated between roughly 2% and 12% of votes since the 1950s (e.g.,

Ansolabehere, Snyder, & Stewart, 2000; Fowler & Hall, 2014; Gelman &

King, 1990; Jacobson, 2015; Lee, 2008).1

How does this advantage affect congressional campaign rhetoric, and

how does this rhetoric influence voters? Surprisingly, these questions

have received scant attention, as most have focused on other aspects of

incumbency dynamics such as candidate selection, challenger quality,

spending, inter alia.2 In what follows, we argue that the advantage incen-

tivizes incumbents to largely ignore challengers, issues, and even candi-

dates’ images. Instead, their campaigns focus on their own experience,

ties to the district/state, and their provision of benefits for the district/

state: factors on which incumbents are inherently advantaged. Voters, in

turn, focus on those criteria, putting aside policy and perceptions of can-

didates’ traits. The consequence is minimal campaign engagement—

which is so important for promissory representation (e.g., Druckman,

2014; Mansbridge, 2004) and democratic competition more generally

(Disch, 2011; Garsten, 2009; cf. Fowler, 2016). Furthermore, voters con-

sequently decide on criteria that have little connection to what one might

consider evidence of substantive representation. In essence, campaigns

are a key mechanism through which the incumbency advantage operates,

and this is problematic for those concerned with campaign engagement

and democratic competition.

The Incumbency Advantage and Election

Campaigns

The congressional incumbency advantage is one of the most widely stud-

ied topics in American politics (Carson, Engstrom, & Roberts, 2007). It

reflects, in part, an incumbent’s experience in office, familiarity (i.e., ties

to the district), and the provision of benefits for the district (e.g., case-

work, pork barrel projects; e.g., Druckman, Kifer, & Parkin, 2009;

Fiorina, 1989; Fowler, 2018; Fowler & Hall, 2014; Gronke, 2001;

Jacobson, 2013; Mann & Wolfinger, 1980). These factors inherently favor