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Gubernatorial Approval and Administrative Influence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Nelson C. Dometrius
Nelson C. Dometrius*
Affiliation:
Texas Tech University
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Abstract

The connection between the government and the governed is often evaluated using election results. This article explores this connection between elections using data on gubernatorial approval in the states. Specifically, I ask the question, Do governors with greater job approval ratings have greater influence over the state bureaucracy than governors with lower approval ratings? Measures of both gubernatorial influence and administrator contact with gubernatorial staff are regressed on gubernatorial approval ratings from state polling data, along with controls for other state characteristics. The results show that approval does affect a governor's influence with the bureaucracy, and as such, serves as an additional connection between the government and the governed.

Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , Fall 2002 , pp. 251 - 267
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association, 2002

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