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Today on Beacon Hill

9:00am

Joint Committee on Revenue: Committee Hearing

Written Testimony Only
11:00am

Senate Informal Session

Senate Chamber
11:00am

House Informal Session

House Chamber

Birthday: State Senator Joan Lovely

Quote of the Day

Not surprisingly, the more popular the incumbent president and the stronger the economy, the better the candidate of the president’s party tends to do. Less obviously, the incumbent president’s party does better when it has held the White House for a single term than when it has been in power for two terms or longer. That is the “Time for Change” factor, and it has a surprisingly strong relationship with the results of presidential elections. Since World War II, the candidate of the president’s party has won 7 of 9 elections after a single term in office but only 2 of 10 elections after two or more terms in office. The public appears to be more reluctant to vote for a change in direction in Washington after only four years than after eight or more years and in 2024, Democrats will be defending the White House after only four years in office. So even though Harris is not a first-term incumbent running for reelection, she does benefit from something of an incumbency bonus in the model because she is seeking just a second straight term for her party in the White House.
The Time for Change model suggests that presidential elections are largely determined by three factors: the popularity of the incumbent president, the state of the economy, and the number of terms that the president’s party has controlled the White House.

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