by Edward Philpot
Abstract
The median voter theorem, rst formalized by Duncan Black in 1948, is the result of a classic model used to describe the positioning of candidates in majority-rule elections, eponymously stating that candidates will converge to the median. The goal of this paper is to describe how the median voter theorem fails to hold in more general cases. Specically, when multi-contest majority rules elections (such as the United States presidential election) are considered, the median voter theorem fails in the presence of even one winner-take-all constituency; this failure provides opportunities for individual constituencies to skew the equilibrium candidate position toward the position of their median voter.
Professor Daniel A Graham, Faculty Advisor
