¹ “Democracy” is a term that has been assigned many different, but not necessarily mutually exclusive, meanings. In this paper, the notion of a competitive struggle of elites for the electorate's vote is stressed. A statement of this view of democracy is Schumpeter, Joseph A., Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, 2nd ed. (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1947), pp. 269–273Google Scholar.

² Turner, Julius, “Primary Elections as the Alternative to Party Competition in ‘Safe’ Districts,” Journal of Politics, 15 (May, 1953), 197–210, at 198CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³ Ibid., p. 210.

⁴ All data for 1944–1950, except where specified, are from the tables and text of Turner's article. In some instances Turner's data have been manipulated. All election results for 1964 through 1972 are from Scammon, Richard M., ed., America Votes, vols. 6–10 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Governmental Affairs Institute, 1965–1974)Google Scholar. The 1974 primary election results are from the appropriate number of Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report. CQ Weekly Report, 5 April 1975, pp. 716–723Google Scholar, is the source of 1974 general election returns.

Sections of the United States are defined as follows: South: Ala., Ark., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.C., S.C., Tenn., Texas, Va.; Northeast: Conn., Del., Me., Mass., N.H., N.J., N.Y., Penn., R.I., Vt.; Border: Ky., Md., Mo., Okla., W.VA.; Central: Ill., Ind., Iowa, K.S., Mich., Minn., Neb., N.D., Ohio, S.D., Wisc; West: Alaska, Ariz., Calif., Colo., Hawaii, Idaho, Mont., Nev., N.M., Ore., Utah, Wash., Wyo.