Facing the challenge of democracy
Subtitle: explorations in the analysis of public opinion and political participation
By: edited by Paul M. Sniderman and Benjamin Highton
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Princeton
Language: eng
Number of pages: 389
ISBN-13: 9780691151113; 9780691151106
Subjects: Politics and government; Public opinion; Political participation
Description: Citizens are political simpletons--that is only a modest exaggeration of a common characterization of voters. Certainly, there is no shortage of evidence of citizens' limited political knowledge, even about matters of the highest importance, along with inconsistencies in their thinking, some glaring by any standard. But this picture of citizens all too often approaches caricature. Paul Sniderman and Benjamin Highton bring together leading political scientists who offer new insights into the political thinking of the public, the causes of party polarization, the motivations for political partic.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: facing the challenge of democracy / Paul M. Sniderman, Benjamin Highton; title: I. How do political scientists know what citizens want? An essay on theory and measurement / Arthur Lupia; title: II. Purposive mass belief systems concerning foreign policy / Benjamin I. Page, Tao Xie; title: III. Cosmopolitanism / Simon Jackman, Lynn Vavreck; title: IV. Running to the right: effects of campaign strategy on mass opinion and behavior / Diana Mutz, Susanna Dilliplane; title: V. Pathways to conservative identification: the politics of ideological contradiction in the United States / Christopher Ellis, James A. Stimson; title: VI. Partisan differences in job approval ratings of George W. Bush and U.S. senators in the states: an exploration / Gary C. Jacobson; title: VII. Political participation, polarization, and public opinion: activism and the merging of partisan and ideological polarization / John H. Aldrich, Melanie Freeze; title: VIII. Political Parties in the capital economy of modern campaigns / Jonathan Krasno; title: IX. Candidates and parties in congressional elections: revisiting candidate-centered conclusions in a partisan era / Eric McGhee, Kathryn Pearson; title: X. The myth of the independent voter revisited / David B. Magleby, Candice J. Nelson, Mark C. Westlye; title: XI. Who really votes? / Stephen Ansolabehere, Eitan Hersh; title: XII. Who governs if everyone votes? / John Sides, Eric Schickler, Jack Citrin; title: XIII. The effects of registration laws on voter turnout: an updated assessment / Matthew R. Knee, Donald P. Green; title: XIV. Issue preferences, civic engagement, and the transformation of American politics / Edward G. Carmines, Michael J. Ensley, Michael W. Wagner.