Demanding choices
Subtitle: opinion, voting, and direct democracy
By: Shaun Bowler and Todd Donovan.
Contributors: Donovan, Todd.
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Ann Arbor
Language: eng
Number of pages: 198
Subjects: Representative government and representation.; Elections.; Direct democracy.; Referendum.
Description: In Demanding Choices, Shaun Bowler and Todd Donovan explore how voters make decisions in direct referenda. The authors ask if voters have easy and accessible information about an issue and if the choices voters make seem sensible given their interests and the information they have.

Looking at the way voters respond to different kinds of questions, the authors suggest that while direct democracy has its failings, the flaws do not necessarily lie with citizens being "duped", or with voters approving propositions they do not want or understand.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-193) and index.
Table of contents: title: The history of direct democracy : a critique of voter competence; title: Reasoning voters : sorting through the demands of direct democracy; title: Responding to demands : information, abstention, and just saying "no"; title: Economic conditions and voting on ballot propositions; title: Private interests and instrumental voting; title: Voter response to the initiative logroll and the counterproposition; title: Partisan interests and campaign information : support for term limits; title: How campaign spending affects voter awareness and opinions of initiatives; title: Conclusions about voter reasoning in direct democracy; title: Appendix A: coding of variables on private interests and voting behavior.