And the perceived success or failure of those policies and programs tends to determine how the parties' candidates, even those who don't support many of them, do at the polls.
This has been especially true in the past two decades, in which fewer Americans have been splitting their tickets or changing their minds from election to election than was the case from the 1950s to the 1980s.
For years, white Southerners voted Republican or for a third-party candidate in presidential elections and...












LBJ held office one elected term but Dems held the seat for 8
Ford was pres only about 2 years but again republicans held it for 8
There are only 5 times the Presidency was held by a PARTY for only 4 years