The swing ratio-the percentage change in legislative seats associated with a 1% change in legislative votes-has been defined in two quite different ways. We discuss the properties, advantages, and disadvantages of each definition, along with the considerable difficulty of gathering appropriate data for use with either definition. The more familiar historical definition has a number of problems; one of its forms should rarely be used and the other form should be used with care and caution. The single-year or hypothetical definition has much to recommend it despite what initially appear to be serious defects.
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Niemi et al. (1986) studied this question.
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