Incumbent

==Anti-incumbency==
{{main|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|anti-incumbency factor]], situations of this kind occur when the incumbent has proven themself not worthy of office during their tenure and the challengers demonstrate this to the voters. An anti-incumbency factor can also be responsible for bringing down incumbents who have been in office for many successive terms despite performance indicators, simply because the voters are convinced by the challengers of a need for change. It is also argued that the holders of extensively powerful offices are subject to immense pressure which leaves them politically impotent and unable to command enough public confidence for re-election; such is the case, for example, with the [[President of France|Presidency of France]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/02/francs-presidency-is-too-powerful-to-work-emmanuel-macron-elections/ |title=France's Presidency Is Too Powerful to Work |author=Robert Tombs |date=May 2, 2017 |publisher=Polling Report |access-date=December 3, 2017}}</ref> Voters who experience the negative [[Shock (economics)|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.<ref name="Margalit">{{Cite journal|last=Margalit|first=Yotam|date=2019-05-11|title=Political Responses to Economic Shocks|journal=Annual Review of Political Science|language=en|volume=22|issue=1|pages=277–295|doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-050517-110713|issn=1094-2939|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Nick Panagakis, a pollster, coined what he dubbed the ''incumbent rule'' in 1989—that any voter who claims to be undecided towards the end of the election will probably end up voting for a challenger.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pollingreport.com/incumbent.htm |title=Incumbent Rule |author=Nick Panagakis |date=February 27, 1989 |publisher=Polling Report |access-date=February 5, 2016}}</ref>

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