Issues and Voting Behavior in Mexico's 2006 Elections.

This paper shows that despite intensely polarized political elites in Mexico and highly polarized campaigns based to a signigicant extent on distinct economic policy proposals by the leading candidayes, issue differences were small across party identifiers and played a very minor role in vote intention. Instead, the vote was most strongly affected by candidate traits, retrospective evaluations of the incumbent's performance in office, and partisan identification. These findings imply that Mexico is not undergoing a partisan realignment, that the virtual tie between the leftwing and rightwing frontrunners does not imply deep divisions in the electorate, and that office-holders have little clear mandate. Data include the Mexico 2006 Candidate and Party Elite Survey and the Mexico 2006 Voter Panel Study. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]