Ideological Realignment and Active Partisans in the American Electorate
Ideological Realignment and Active Partisans in the American Electorate (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X03259195) was written by Alan I. Abramowitz and Kyle L. Saunders in 2004.
Citizens that participate in political activities beyond voting are expected to have an outsized impact. They are recruited by party leaders through several mechanisms, one of which is "attempting to use ideological appeals to build new electoral coalitions".
The use of ideological appeals has an effect on the partisanship of a party. A persuasion effect sees active citizens adopting political opinions in line with the leader. A "selective recruitment/derecruitment" effect sees active citizens sorted across parties.
The authors attempt to test for significant differences between active Republicans and active Democrats in the U.S., with the expectation that these active citizens drive the larger parties in the same directions. Use ANES data.
Party labels are self-identified.