Multiple Party Identifiers and the Measurement of Party Identification

Abstract

We examine the extent of multiple partisan identification in contemporary American politics and the degree to which this phenomenon may account for the "intransitivity" problem noted by Petrocik (1974). Results indicate, first, that enough multiple identifiers exist to make the concept potentially useful. Furthermore, multiple identifications do provide a partial explanation for the intransitivities in the relationship between political participation and the traditional party identification measure, as removal of multiple identifiers results in a lessening or disappearance of these intransitivities. Our findings lend support to the view that the traditional partisanship measure is influenced by the presence of multiple responses to national, state, and local party systems, and is therefore not a simple unidimensional entity.