David R. Mayhew

David R. Mayhew (Born May 18, 1937) is a political scientist and Sterling Professor in the Political Science Department at Yale University. He is the author of several influential books on American politics.

In Congress: The Electoral Connection, Mayhew argued that much of the organization of the United States Congress can be explained as the result of re-election seeking behavior by its members. In Divided We Govern, he disputed the previously accepted notion that, when Congress and the presidency are controlled by different parties, less important legislation is passed than under unified government.^{[citation needed]} His most recent book, Partison Balance: Why Political parties Don't Kill the U.S. Constitutional System (Princeton University Press, 2011) contends that majoritarianism largely characterizes the American system. The wishes of the majority tend to nudge institutions back toward the median voter.^[1] Partisan Balance won the 2011 Leon D. Epstein Outstanding Award from the American Political Science Association.

Mayhew earned another Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1964. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2004, he received the Samuel J. Eldersveld Award for lifetime achievement from the American Political Science Association.^{[citation needed]}

Quotes

• "If a group of planners sat down and tried to design a pair of American national assemblies with the goal of serving members' reelection needs year in and year out, they would be hard pressed to improve on what exists."
• "As an expressive institution Congress, in short, is noisy, versatile, and effective."
• "Probably half the adverse criticism of Congress by elites is an indirect criticism of the public itself."

References

1. ^ David Mayhew Wins the 2011 Leon D. Epstein Award, PUP Blog, May 16, 2011

External links

• Yale University profile
• "Mayhew lauded for his studies of party politics", Yale Bulletin & Calendar, Sept. 24, 2004.
• "Divided We Govern" excerpts, Google Books

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Name	Mayhew, David
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Date of birth	1937-05-18
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