Public Opinion in the United States tracks developments in American society since World War II through the lens of public opinion. The authors assess national public opinion poll data from 1945 to 2008, targeting opinions about African Americans, Jews, Muslim Americans, gays and lesbians, immigration, abortion, and affirmative action.

The authors consider whether American attitudes have developed faster than Supreme Court decisions in the areas surveyed. They assess how social change is processed by the public, how people responded to the race riots of the 1950s and 1960s,...