Bandwagon Effect

The phrase bandwagon effect is used to describe the attraction that successful campaigns have for voters, particularly those who may be undecided as election day nears. If a popular candidate seems to be rolling along to victory, people may “hop on the bandwagon” to be on the winning side.

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The term derives from the spectacle of the old-time circus bandwagon coming down Main Street, blaring joyous music and tempting young boys to climb aboard. Indeed, the word bandwagon still conjures up visions of bright colors, balloons, and celebration.

Political consultants and campaign managers try to cultivate an image of a confident and happy campaign, even if polling shows that their candidate is headed for defeat. They play on voter psychology, knowing that people hesitate to waste votes on a losing cause.

For that reason the bandwagon effect is a serious element in the controversy over the news media's forecasting election results while the polls are still open in some parts of the country or in parts of a state [Page p19]where a close statewide race is being decided. Some voters, hearing that their candidate is winning, may rush to the polls to be on the bandwagon. Others may stay home thinking the race is over.

Such forecasts are based on exit polls that have proven highly accurate. In one of their first uses, on election day in 1980, exit polls indicated that Ronald Reagan would defeat incumbent president Jimmy Carter, prompting Carter to concede while polls were still open in the West. The bandwagon effect is thought to have caused some western Democratic voters to stay home.

Throughout the campaign, Reagan had projected an image of confidence and optimism, while Carter was dogged by foreign and domestic problems and the memory of his defeatist “malaise” speech. Reagan's campaign strategy clearly took advantage of the bandwagon effect.

The Reagan landslide also had a related coattails effect as Republicans gained seats in the House and won control of the Senate for the first time in twenty-eight years.