The Crosswinds of Change: Sources of Change in the Democratic and Republican Parties

This paper disaggregates change among Democratic and Republican elites in the 1980s. Using data about the views of delegates to the 1980, 1984 and 1988 national party conventions, I examine the relative contributions of conversion and replacement coupled with the preference for candidates among party activists. The analysis of the effects of preferences for candi dates and the ideological positions of the delegates revealed that regardless of whether the activists are veterans or newcomers, support for particular candidates plays an important role in the shaping of the parties' aggregate ideological orientation.