Presidential campaign appearances in midterm U.S. House elections, 1982-2006

Presidents have invested their time and energy campaigning for members of their own party during midterm elections since the middle of the 20 th century. Presidents, their advisors, the media, and the candidates they campaign for all believe the appearances have a positive effect on the outcome of the midterm elections. Yet, little empirical evidence exists suggesting that presidential appearances are anything more than window dressings.;In this dissertation, I examine presidential midterm campaign visits on behalf of candidates for the United States House of Representatives between 1982 and 2006. I find evidence that campaign visits are strategically allocated to competitive House districts which supported the president in his previous electoral bid. I also find that presidential visits are allocated relatively equally to such districts, regardless of whether or not the president's co-partisan is favored to win the election. I examine the effects of presidential visits during midterm elections and find that visits produce little discernible effect on whether a co-partisan wins the election or upon her share of the popular vote. I find evidence of a limited effect on reducing the typical decline in voter turnout in midterm elections in the most competitive House races.