Book contents
- With Ballots and Bullets
- With Ballots and Bullets
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- 1 An Introduction to Partisan Warfare
- 2 The Roots of Partisan Civil War
- Part I Mobilizing Partisan Warfare
- Part II Ballots in a Partisan Civil War
- 5 Election News during Wartime
- 6 Weighing the Dead
- 7 Partisan Stability & the Myth of Atlanta
- Part III Legacies of Partisan Violence
- Conclusion
- Notes
- References
- Index
6 - Weighing the Dead
Partisan Reasoning at the Ballot Box
from Part II - Ballots in a Partisan Civil War
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 October 2020
- With Ballots and Bullets
- With Ballots and Bullets
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- 1 An Introduction to Partisan Warfare
- 2 The Roots of Partisan Civil War
- Part I Mobilizing Partisan Warfare
- Part II Ballots in a Partisan Civil War
- 5 Election News during Wartime
- 6 Weighing the Dead
- 7 Partisan Stability & the Myth of Atlanta
- Part III Legacies of Partisan Violence
- Conclusion
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
Chapter 6 analyzes the impact of casualties on elections during the war. Statewide elections were staggered throughout the calendar in ways that make those election returns function like a tracking poll of partisan support. Contrary to modern war studies, I find Republican vote shares did not deteriorate in response to national casualties. I validate my analytical approach with evidence of highly nationalized and synchronized elections linking party votes for House, governor, and president both before and during the war. However, local deaths moved voters on the margins, with disparate impacts based on the balance of local partisanship. Local deaths depressed Republican vote share in prewar Democratic bastions but not in Republican strongholds. Recent deaths were especially potent. It suggests that the combination of partisan identities, local partisan leaders, and local social environments shaped local interpretations of the war – including its unprecedented human costs. Local casualties did change the electoral behavior of some voters, while most stood pat. Partisan mechanisms guided who responded and how.
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- Information
- With Ballots and BulletsPartisanship and Violence in the American Civil War, pp. 135 - 157Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020