Machine politics in Chicago has been described as a successful example
of exchange theory in which political party members received benefits
in return for loyalty to the party. In 1989, Erie rejected the rainbo
w theory of machine politics, arguing that the Irish received the lion
's share of political benefits while other white-ethnic groups, such a
s Poles, were given limited and often symbolic rewards. These authors
show that Chicago's Poles were not fully incorporated into the rainbow
of groups that benefited from and supported the machine. This led to
a pattern of independence in voting and lends considerable support to
Erie's supply-side model of machine politics.