The Reasoning Voter

Samuel L. PopkinPolitical Science
The Reasoning Voter

Author: Samuel L. Popkin

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

ISBN: 9780226772875

Category: Political Science

Page: 332

View: 978

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The Reasoning Voter is an insider's look at campaigns, candidates, media, and voters that convincingly argues that voters make informed logical choices. Samuel L. Popkin analyzes three primary campaigns—Carter in 1976; Bush and Reagan in 1980; and Hart, Mondale, and Jackson in 1984—to arrive at a new model of the way voters sort through commercials and sound bites to choose a candidate. Drawing on insights from economics and cognitive psychology, he convincingly demonstrates that, as trivial as campaigns often appear, they provide voters with a surprising amount of information on a candidate's views and skills. For all their shortcomings, campaigns do matter. "Professor Popkin has brought V.O. Key's contention that voters are rational into the media age. This book is a useful rebuttal to the cynical view that politics is a wholly contrived business, in which unscrupulous operatives manipulate the emotions of distrustful but gullible citizens. The reality, he shows, is both more complex and more hopeful than that."—David S. Broder, The Washington Post

Votes That Count and Voters Who Don’t

Sharon E. JarvisLanguage Arts & Disciplines
Votes That Count and Voters Who Don’t

Author: Sharon E. Jarvis

Publisher: Penn State Press

ISBN: 9780271082882

Category: Language Arts & Disciplines

Page: 200

View: 180

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For decades, journalists have called the winners of U.S. presidential elections—often in error—well before the closing of the polls. In Votes That Count and Voters Who Don’t, Sharon E. Jarvis and Soo-Hye Han investigate what motivates journalists to call elections before the votes have been tallied and, more importantly, what this and similar practices signal to the electorate about the value of voter participation. Jarvis and Han track how journalists have told the story of electoral participation during the last eighteen presidential elections, revealing how the portrayal of voters in the popular press has evolved over the last half century from that of mobilized partisan actors vital to electoral outcomes to that of pawns of political elites and captives of a flawed electoral system. The authors engage with experiments and focus groups to reveal the effects that these portrayals have on voters and share their findings in interviews with prominent journalists. Votes That Count and Voters Who Don’t not only explores the failings of the media but also shows how the story of electoral participation might be told in ways that support both democratic and journalistic values. At a time when professional strategists are pressuring journalists to provide favorable coverage for their causes and candidates, this book invites academics, organizations, the press, and citizens alike to advocate for the voter’s place in the news.

What are Campaigns For? The Role of Persuasion in Electoral Law and Politics

James A GardnerLaw
What are Campaigns For? The Role of Persuasion in Electoral Law and Politics

Author: James A Gardner

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 9780190453022

Category: Law

Page: 232

View: 501

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Election campaigns ought to be serious occasions in the life of a democratic polity. For citizens of a democracy, an election is a time to take stock-to reexamine our beliefs; to review our understanding of our own interests; to ponder the place of those interests in the larger social order; and to contemplate, and if necessary to revise, our understanding of how our commitments are best translated into governmental policy-or so we profess to believe. Americans, however, are haunted by the fear that our election campaigns fall far short of the ideal to which we aspire. The typical modern American election campaign seems crass, shallow, and unengaging. The arena of our democratic politics seems to lie in an uncomfortable chasm between our political ideals and everyday reality. What Are Campaigns For? is a multidisciplinary work of legal scholarship that examines the role of legal institutions in constituting the disjunction between political ideal and reality. The book explores the contemporary American ideal of democratic citizenship in election campaigns by tracing it to its historical sources, documenting its thorough infiltration of legal norms, evaluating its feasibility in light of the findings of empirical social science, and testing it against the requirements of democratic theory.

The Candidate

Samuel L. PopkinHistory
The Candidate

Author: Samuel L. Popkin

Publisher: OUP USA

ISBN: 9780199922079

Category: History

Page: 361

View: 128

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Explains what separates a candidate from a president-elect, looking in particular at the missteps made in George H. W. Bush's re-election bid and Al Gore and Hilary Clinton's efforts to gain the presidency.

On Voter Competence

Paul GorenMedical
On Voter Competence

Author: Paul Goren

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 9780195396140

Category: Medical

Page: 288

View: 693

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Argues with the standard interpretation of the American voter as incompetent in matters of policy.

Candidates, Parties and Voters in the Belgian Partitocracy

Audrey VandeleenePolitical Science
Candidates, Parties and Voters in the Belgian Partitocracy

Author: Audrey Vandeleene

Publisher: Springer

ISBN: 9783319964607

Category: Political Science

Page: 398

View: 990

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This book focuses on the triadic relationship between electoral candidates and the two other poles of the delegation and accountability triangle—political parties and voters. The chapters rely mostly on the Belgian Candidate Survey (CCS project), gathering about 2000 candidates belonging to 15 parties represented in Parliament and running for the 2014 federal and regional elections, and the authors’ conclusions serve at answering broad political science questions linked with elite recruitment, party and candidate electoral strategies, personalisation, party cohesion, and descriptive and substantive representation. Its multilevel semi-open electoral system, atypical federal structure, extreme party system fragmentation and volatility make Belgium an exceptionally rich but complex case that offers findings highly relevant to research on candidates in other democracies.

Voters and Voting

Jocelyn A J EvansPolitical Science
Voters and Voting

Author: Jocelyn A J Evans

Publisher: SAGE

ISBN: 0761949100

Category: Political Science

Page: 248

View: 550

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An accessible textbook that provides an overview of the historical origins and development of voting theory, this guide explores theories of voting and electoral behaviour at a level suitable for college students.

Vital Signs

David A. DulioPolitical Science
Vital Signs

Author: David A. Dulio

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

ISBN: 9780815797906

Category: Political Science

Page: 241

View: 674

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It was the best of elections; it was the worst of elections. The 2004 presidential contest mobilized a record number of voters, with 121 million Americans showing up at the polls. But in many eyes, the 2004 race also plumbed new depths. It was the most expensive presidential election in history, with a price tag of $2.2 billion. It was also marked by unprecedented negativity—for example, both George W. Bush and John Kerry came under fire for their activities during the Vietnam War, which ended three decades ago. In V ital Signs, David Dulio and Candice Nelson analyze the Bush and Kerry campaigns and use them as the springboard for a broader exploration of the current U.S. campaign system and its strengths and weaknesses. The book addresses four key issues: Who's in charge of modern campaigns? How effective are the key players? What role does money play? And are campaigns being conducted in an ethical manner? In answering these questions, Dulio and Nelson draw on a wide range of sources, including focus groups, interviews with campaign professionals, and a unique dataset based on multiple surveys of political consultants, party operatives, and the public. The culmination of the seven-year "Improving Campaign Conduct" project, Vital Signs should become an integral part of the debate about American campaigns and elections.

Doorstep Democracy

James H. ReadPolitical Science
Doorstep Democracy

Author: James H. Read

Publisher: U of Minnesota Press

ISBN: 9780816656790

Category: Political Science

Page: 225

View: 441

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The famous Tip O'Neill axiom "all politics is local" comes alive in this chronicle of Democrat James H. Read's hard-fought but unsuccessful--by 98 votes--bid for state legislature in the socially conservative communities of Stearns and Morrison Counties, Minnesota. Read door-knocked 7,500 households during his campaign, visiting with voters and engaging in genuine dialogue on doorsteps from St. Anthony to St. Joseph. At once a memoir of a hard-fought contest and a meditation on the state of American democracy, Read's work contrasts the modern media-driven political campaign, where candidates glean their knowledge of voters from pollsters and communication only flows one way, with the kind of true understanding of constituents and issues that can only grow from individual encounters. Face-to-face doorstep conversations, he claims, give a candidate (or volunteer) and voter an opportunity to truly persuade and learn from one another. In a district where the pro-life movement dominated politics, Read's invitation to honestly discuss abortion and reject single-issue politics resonated with many voters. Refusing the "red state" versus "blue state" view of American voters, Doorstep Democracy shows the power and importance of kitchen-table politics--people sitting down together to tackle the issues that affect us--and proves that voters and candidates can be convinced to change their minds. Read ultimately demonstrates how conversations between citizens concerned about their communities can get us beyond the television ads, mass mailings, and sound bites to rejuvenate American democracy.

Institutionalising Democracy

Ndletyana, McebisiPolitical Science
Institutionalising Democracy

Author: Ndletyana, Mcebisi

Publisher: Africa Institute of South Africa

ISBN: 9780798304818

Category: Political Science

Page: 278

View: 166

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South Africa is now more than twenty years old as a democratic republic. Five successful elections have been amongst the major markers of the country's democratic status. The success of the elections has, in turn, yielded stable institutions of governance. Because they were elected through a credible electoral process, the various spheres of government enjoy popular legitimacy. Pivotal in moulding these institutions of governance has been the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

Voters on the Move Or on the Run?

Bernhard WesselsPolitical Science
Voters on the Move Or on the Run?

Author: Bernhard Wessels

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

ISBN: 9780199662630

Category: Political Science

Page: 369

View: 345

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Voters on the Move or on the Run? addresses electoral change, the reasons for it, and its consequences. By investigating the complexity of voting and its context, the volume shows that increasingly heterogeneity is not arbitrary and unstructured.