A Person Already in Office Who Is Running Again

Current holder of a political part

The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, normally in relation to an election. For instance, in an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or interim in the function of president earlier the election, whether seeking re-election or not. In some situations, at that place may not be an incumbent at time of an election for that office or position (for example, when a new balloter division is created), in which case the role or position is regarded every bit vacant or open up. In the United States, an ballot without an incumbent is referred to as an open seat or open contest.

Etymology

The give-and-take "incumbent" is derived from the Latin verb incumbere, literally significant "to lean or lay upon" with the present participle stem incumbent-, "leaning a variant of encumber, ^[ane] while encumber is derived from the root cumber,^[2] most appropriately defined: "To occupy obstructively or inconveniently; to block fill up with what hinders freedom of move or activity; to brunt, load."^[3]

Incumbency advantage

In general, an incumbent has a political advantage over challengers at elections. Except when the timing of elections is determined by a constitution or by legislation, the incumbent may have the right to determine the engagement of an election.

For well-nigh political offices, the incumbent often has more name recognition due to their previous work in the part. Incumbents besides have easier access to campaign finance, as well as government resources (such as the franking privilege) that can be indirectly used to boost the incumbent'south re-ballot entrada.

In the Usa, an election (especially for a single-member constituency in a legislature) in which an incumbent is non seeking re-election is often called an open seat; because of the lack of incumbency advantage, these are ofttimes amidst the about hotly contested races in any election.^{[ commendation needed ]} Also, an open up contest is created when the term of role is express, as in the example of terms of the U.Southward. president being restricted to two four-year terms, and the incumbent is prohibited from recontesting.

When newcomers expect to fill an open function, voters tend to compare and dissimilarity the candidates' qualifications, positions on political issues, and personal characteristics in a relatively straightforward mode. Elections featuring an incumbent, on the other hand, are, as Guy Molyneux puts it, "fundamentally a referendum on the incumbent."^[4] Voters will get-go grapple with the record of the incumbent. Only if they make up one's mind to "burn" the incumbent practice they begin to evaluate whether each of the challengers is an acceptable alternative.

A 2017 written report in the British Periodical of Political Science argues that the incumbency advantage stems from the fact that voters evaluate the incumbent's ideology individually whereas they assume that any challenger shares his party's ideology.^[5] This means that the incumbency advantage gets more pregnant as political polarization increases.^[5] A 2017 study in the Journal of Politics found that incumbents accept "a far larger reward" in on-cycle elections than in off-cycle elections.^[6]

Business usage

In relation to business operations and competition, an incumbent supplier is usually the supplier who currently supplies the needs of a customer and therefore has an advantageous position in relation to maintaining this part or like-minded a new contract in comparison with competing businesses.^[7]

Sophomore surge

Political analysts in the United States and United Kingdom have noted the existence of a sophomore surge (not known every bit such in the United kingdom) in which first term representatives come across an increase in votes in their first election. This phenomenon is said to bring an advantage of up to 10% for start term representatives, which increases the incumbency advantage.

Anti-incumbency

However, there exist scenarios in which the incumbency factor itself leads to the downfall of the incumbent. Popularly known as the anti-incumbency factor, situations of this kind occur when the incumbent has proven themself not worthy of function during his tenure and the challengers demonstrate this to the voters. An anti-incumbency factor can also be responsible for bringing downward incumbents who have been in function for many successive terms despite performance indicators, but because the voters are convinced by the challengers of a need for alter. It is also argued that the holders of extensively powerful offices are subject to immense force per unit area which leaves them politically impotent and unable to command enough public conviction for re-ballot; such is the instance, for example, with the Presidency of France.^[8] Voters who experience the negative economic shock of a loss of income are less likely to vote for an incumbent candidate than those who have not experienced such a shock.^[9]

Nick Panagakis, a pollster, coined what he dubbed the incumbent dominion in 1989—that any voter who claims to be undecided towards the end of the election will probably end upward voting for a challenger.^[10]

In France, the phenomenon is known by the catchphrase "Sortez les sortants" (become out the outgoing [representatives]!) which was the slogan of the Poujadist movement in the 1956 French legislative election.

Run across also

• Sophomore surge
• Lists of part-holders
• Listing of electric current heads of state and government
• Approachable politician
  • Listing of presidents who did non win reelection
• Virtual incumbent

References

1. ^ OED (1989), p. 834
2. ^ OED (1989), p. 218
3. ^ OED (1989), p. 124
4. ^ Guy Molyneux, The Large 5-Oh, The American Prospect, one Oct 2004.
5. ^ ^{a b} Peskowitz, Zachary (2017-05-01). "Ideological Signaling and Incumbency Reward". British Journal of Political Scientific discipline. 49 (2): 467–490. doi:10.1017/S0007123416000557. ISSN 0007-1234. S2CID 157292602.
6. ^ de Benedictis-Kessner, Justin (2017-12-07). "Off-Cycle and Out of Office: Ballot Timing and the Incumbency Reward". The Journal of Politics. 80: 119–132. doi:10.1086/694396. ISSN 0022-3816. S2CID 222440248.
7. ^ Chen, J., Incumbent, Investopedia, updated 27 January 2021, accessed twenty March 2021
8. ^ Robert Tombs (May 2, 2017). "France'due south Presidency Is Besides Powerful to Work". Polling Report. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
9. ^ Margalit, Yotam (2019-05-11). "Political Responses to Economic Shocks". Annual Review of Political Science. 22 (1): 277–295. doi:x.1146/annurev-polisci-050517-110713. ISSN 1094-2939.
10. ^ Nick Panagakis (February 27, 1989). "Incumbent Rule". Polling Report. Retrieved Feb 5, 2016.

Sources

• Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Print.

Farther reading

Look upward incumbent in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• De Magalhaes, Fifty. (2015). Incumbency effects in a comparative perspective: Evidence from Brazilian mayoral elections. Political Assay, 23(ane), 113–126.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incumbent

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