Realigning election

Realigning election or critical election or realignment are terms from political history and political science. They describe a dramatic change in politics. More specifically, they refer to any one of several presidential elections in which there are sharp changes in the rules of the game (such as campaign finance laws or voter eligibility), new issues, new leaders and new bases of power for each of the two political parties, resulting in a new political power structure and a new status quo that will last for decades.

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V. O. Key, Jr. identified realignments as occurring during "critical elections." Other scholars to cover this matter include Jerome M. Chubb, William H. Flanigan, and Nancy H. Zingale in Partisan Realigment: Voters, Parties, and Government in American History (1980, James L. Sundquist in Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States and especially W. Dean Burnham in a series of books.

Related Topics:
V. O. Key, Jr. - 1980

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The terms are somewhat arbitrary, and usage among political scientists and historians does vary. Some believe that certain elections are realigning elections, others say that the statistical data does not show a sharp enough break. Here is presented a list of potential realigning elections, with disagreements noted:

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