COHESION AT THE PARTY CONVENTIONS - 1980-1988

Studies of party cohesion commonly focus on support for party nominees and emphasize implications for electoral success. This article shifts that focus to the party organizations and explores the ramifications for opinion leadership and governing. It reports consistently low levels of issue coherence within both major parties, even among delegates who support the same candidate. These findings, the author concludes, pose an obstacle to programmatically coherent parties and hinder the successful transmission of clear alternatives to voters.