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Term Limits, Political Polarization, And Voter Behavior: An Analysis Of The Nebraska Unicameral, Jared Long

Honors Theses

Term limits are an often-debated reform proposal in American politics. In the 1990s and 2000s, many states adopted a range of term limit policies, including Nebraska. At the time, many bold predictions were made for how such a significant structural change in state governance might affect political norms. Over the past 20 to 30 years, many empirical studies have been carried out to weigh the merits of these predictions. However, much research has focused on institutional effects within state legislatures themselves; less focus has been given to the residual effects on voters themselves.

This paper posits the argument that term …