Issue Ownership Theory: A Performance-Side Analysis

As originally noted by Petrocik (1996), presidential candidates are generally more successful when campaigning on the issues their party owns. Specifically, if the public consistently perceives that one party can handle an issue area better than the other party, then the party and its candidates gain the trust of the public and own the issue area. While numerous scholars have examined the impact of Petrocik’s issue ownership theory on candidates’ electoral success, scholars have not applied the central tenets of the theory to what presidents actually do after being elected. With this in mind, this project develops and tests a multivariate performance-side analysis of presidential success. Specifically, I examine whether presidents are more successful in issue areas which that party owns.