Party loyalty among Democratic and Republican leaders : a case study of McLennan County, Texas.

An examination of political party loyalty of leaders within the Democratic and Republican parties of McLennan County. Texas, is the purpose of this study. More precisely, the study deals with the leaders' attitudes toward party loyalty, on both long and short terms. A comparison is made between these attitudes and voting practice as reported by the leaders of both parties. In addition, the different aspects of party loyalty within both parties are compared. Necessary information was obtained from delegates and alternates to the 1964 and 1966 state conventions of both parties by means of personal interviews employing a standardized interview schedule. This information was coded and recorded on punch cards for use in analysis. Findings of the study show that the Republican leaders in McLennan County appear to be very loyal when voting at the national level. Examination of the results from two hypothetical voting situations posed to the Republican interviewees indicated that they will remain loyal to their party as long as its candidates are conservatively oriented. Although the Republican leaders did not strongly favor loyalty pledges, they do seem loyal on a long-term basis. The Democratic leaders of McLennan County proved to be much more disloyal than the Republicans. Data from questions concerning actual voting disclosed that over one-fourth of the Democratic leaders had voted for at least one Republican candidate in the three elections pertinent to this study. In addition, the methodological device of hypothetical elections was used to make further inquiry into the attitudes of leaders of this party toward issues of party loyalty. The resultant data suggest that loyalty to the Democratic party is largely dependent upon the ideologies of the candidates rather than upon their party label. The Democrats, especially those who designated themselves as liberals tended to advocate the requirement of loyalty pledges for those taking part in party activities, but several of the leaders interviewed showed dissatisfaction with the present Democratic party and suggested leaving it. These findings seem to indicate that many of the Democratic leaders of McLennan County are not as loyal to their party as they perceive themselves to be. Internal conflicts within the party evidently are occurring because of factionalism along ideological lines. Therefore, McLennan County is no longer the Democratic stronghold that it once was. The Republican party in McLennan County seems to be a growing party with loyal supporters. Its leaders generally appear to be satisfied with the current conservative status of their party. They have gotten, and probably will continue to get, Democratic leadership votes on a short-term basis and permanent members from the Democratic party on a long-term basis. The findings of this study suggest several trends concerning political party loyalty. The extent to which these findings can be applied to the rank-and-file party members and to other parts of Texas and the South is an unanswered question. However, much more study in this field must be made before any conclusions are reached.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Grantor

Baylor University.

Year dc:date.issued

1970

Author dc:creator

• Maize, Nancy Lee, 1944-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Miller, Robert T. (Robert Thomas), 1920-1996.

• Political parties.

Statement dc:rights

• Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2104/13277

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:baylor-ir.tdl.org:2104/13277