Party Elites in the United States, 1974: Democratic Mid-Term Conference Delegates and Sanford Commission Members

This data collection was designed to provide information on
the personal and political backgrounds, political attitudes, and
relevant behavior of party leaders. The data center on the Sanford
Commission, a group of Democratic party leaders who were appointed by
the National Committee Chairs to draft the party's basic charter, or
constitution, and on the delegates to the 1974 Democratic Mid-Term
Conference who ratified the charter. This dataset, then, permits a
comparison of the two levels of party organization leaders. Questions
focus on the "representativeness" of the party elites at both levels
as well as on their views of the important "reform" provisions
included in the charter and their basic concepts of what a national
party is and should be. The representation of minorities and females in
the process received particular attention. Specific variables include
characterization of respondent's political beliefs on the
liberal-conservative scale, length of time the respondent had been
active in the Democratic party, and the respondent's opinions on
minorities in the party, party unity, national- and local-level party
strength, party loyalty, and on issues involved in developing the
charter. Demographic characteristics are also supplied.