In a democracy, we generally assume that voters know the policies they prefer and elect like-minded officials who are responsible for carrying them out. We also assume that voters consider candidates' competence, honesty, and other performance-related traits. But does this actually happen? Do voters consider candidates' policy positions when deciding for whom to vote? And how do politicians' performances in office factor into the voting decision? In Follow the Leader?, Gabriel S. Lenz sheds light on these central questions of democratic thought. Lenz looks at citizens' views of...
In a democracy, we generally assume that voters know the policies they prefer and elect like-minded officials who are responsible for carrying them ou...
Inpresidential elections, do voters cast their ballots for the candidates whose platform and positions best match their own? Or is the race forpresident of the United States come down largely to who runs the most effective campaign? It s a question those who study elections have been considering for years with no clear resolution. In The Timeline of Presidential Elections, Robert S. Erikson and Christopher Wlezien reveal for the first time how both factors come into play.Erikson and Wlezien have amassed data from close to two thousand national polls covering every presidential...
Inpresidential elections, do voters cast their ballots for the candidates whose platform and positions best match their own? Or is the race forpres...
Human beings are social animals. Yet despite vast amounts of research into political decision making, very little attention has been devoted to its social dimensions. In political science, social relationships are generally thought of as mere sources of information, rather than active influences on one s political decisions.Drawing upon data from settings as diverse as South Los Angeles and Chicago s wealthy North Shore, Betsy Sinclair shows that social networks do not merely inform citizen s behavior, they can and do have the power to change it. From the decision to donate money to a...
Human beings are social animals. Yet despite vast amounts of research into political decision making, very little attention has been devoted to its...
In "Electing Judges, " leading judicial politics scholar James L. Gibson responds tothe growing chorus of critics who fear that the politics of running for office undermine judicial independence and even the rule of law. While many people have opinions on the topic, few have supported them with actual empirical evidence. Gibson rectifies this situation, offering the most systematic and comprehensive study to date of the impact of campaigns on public perceptions of fairness, impartiality, and the legitimacy of elected state courts and his findings are both counterintuitive and...
In "Electing Judges, " leading judicial politics scholar James L. Gibson responds tothe growing chorus of critics who fear that the politics of run...
The United States is once again experiencing a major influx of immigrants. Questions about who should be admitted and what benefits should be afforded to new members of the polity are among the most divisive and controversial contemporary political issues. Using an impressive array of evidence from national surveys, The Politics of Belonging illuminates patterns of public opinion on immigration and explains why Americans hold the attitudes they do. Rather than simply characterizing Americans as either nativist or nonnativist, this book argues that controversies over immigration...
The United States is once again experiencing a major influx of immigrants. Questions about who should be admitted and what benefits should be afforded...
Forty years ago, viewers who wanted to watch the news could only choose from among the major broadcast networks, all of which presented the same news without any particular point of view. Today we have a much broader array of choices, including cable channels offering a partisan take. With partisan programs gaining in popularity, some argue that they are polarizing American politics, while others counter that only a tiny portion of the population watches such programs and that their viewers tend to already hold similar beliefs. In "How Partisan Media Polarize America," Matthew Levendusky...
Forty years ago, viewers who wanted to watch the news could only choose from among the major broadcast networks, all of which presented the same news ...
Eight of the last twelve presidents were millionaires when they took office. Millionaires have a majority on the Supreme Court, and they also make up majorities in Congress, where a background in business or law is the norm and the average member has spent less than two percent of his or her adult life in a working-class job. Why is it that most politicians in America are so much better off than the people who elect them- and does the social class divide between citizens and their representatives matter? With White-Collar Government, Nicholas Carnes answers this question with a...
Eight of the last twelve presidents were millionaires when they took office. Millionaires have a majority on the Supreme Court, and they also make up ...
The numbers are staggering: One-third of America's adult population has passed through the criminal justice system and now has a criminal record. Many more were never convicted, but are nonetheless subject to surveillance by the state. Never before has the American government maintained so vast a network of institutions dedicated solely to the control and confinement of its citizens. A provocative assessment of the contemporary carceral state for American democracy, Arresting Citizenship argues that the broad reach of the criminal justice system has fundamentally recast the...
The numbers are staggering: One-third of America's adult population has passed through the criminal justice system and now has a criminal record. Many...
When Andrea Louise Campbell's sister-in-law, Marcella Wagner, was run off the freeway by a hit-and-run driver, she was seven-and-a-half months pregnant. She survived--and, miraculously, the baby was born healthy. But that's where the good news ends. Marcella was left paralyzed from the chest down. This accident was much more than just a physical and emotional tragedy. Like so many Americans--50 million, or one-sixth of the country's population--neither Marcella nor her husband, Dave, who works for a small business, had health insurance. On the day of the accident, she was on her way to class...
When Andrea Louise Campbell's sister-in-law, Marcella Wagner, was run off the freeway by a hit-and-run driver, she was seven-and-a-half months pregnan...
America's model of representational government rests on the premise that elected officials respond to the opinions of citizens. This is a myth, however, not a reality, according to James N. Druckman and Lawrence R. Jacobs. In Who Governs?, Druckman and Jacobs combine existing research with novel data from US presidential archives to show that presidents make policy by largely ignoring the views of most citizens in favor of affluent and well-connected political insiders. Presidents treat the public as pliable, priming it to focus on personality traits and often ignoring it on policies...
America's model of representational government rests on the premise that elected officials respond to the opinions of citizens. This is a myth, howeve...
