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Facing the Challenge of Democracy : Explorations in the Analysis of Public Opinion and Political Participation / ed. by Benjamin Highton, Paul M. Sniderman.

Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2011]Copyright date: ©2012Edition: Course BookDescription: 1 online resource (416 p.) : 28 line illus. 53 tablesContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691151113
  • 9781400840304
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 323.0420973 23
LOC classification:
  • JK1764
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Contributors -- Introduction: Facing the Challenge of Democracy -- Part I: The Political Logic of Preference Consistency -- I. How Do Political Scientists Know What Citizens Want? -- II. Purposive Mass Belief Systems concerning Foreign Policy -- III. Cosmopolitanism -- IV. Running to the Right -- V. Pathways to Conservative Identification -- Part II. Polarization and the Party System -- VI. Partisan Differences in Job Approval Ratings of George W. Bush and U.S. Senators in the States -- VII. Political Participation, Polarization, and Public Opinion -- VIII. Political Parties in the Capital Economy of Modern Campaigns -- IX. Candidates and Parties in Congressional Elections -- X. The Myth of the Independent Voter Revisited -- Part III. Participation and Representation -- XI. Who Really Votes? -- XII. Who Governs if Everyone Votes? -- XIII. The Effects of Registration Laws on Voter Turnout -- XIV. Issue Preferences, Civic Engagement, and the Transformation of American Politics -- References -- Index
Summary: 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 participation, and the paradoxical relationship between turnout and democratic representation. These studies propel a foundational argument about democracy. Voters can only do as well as the alternatives on offer. These alternatives are constrained by third players, in particular activists, interest groups, and financial contributors. The result: voters often appear to be shortsighted, extreme, and inconsistent because the alternatives they must choose between are shortsighted, extreme, and inconsistent. Facing the Challenge of Democracy features contributions by John Aldrich, Stephen Ansolabehere, Edward Carmines, Jack Citrin, Susanna Dilliplane, Christopher Ellis, Michael Ensley, Melanie Freeze, Donald Green, Eitan Hersh, Simon Jackman, Gary Jacobson, Matthew Knee, Jonathan Krasno, Arthur Lupia, David Magleby, Eric McGhee, Diana Mutz, Candice Nelson, Benjamin Page, Kathryn Pearson, Eric Schickler, John Sides, James Stimson, Lynn Vavreck, Michael Wagner, Mark Westlye, and Tao Xie.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781400840304

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Contributors -- Introduction: Facing the Challenge of Democracy -- Part I: The Political Logic of Preference Consistency -- I. How Do Political Scientists Know What Citizens Want? -- II. Purposive Mass Belief Systems concerning Foreign Policy -- III. Cosmopolitanism -- IV. Running to the Right -- V. Pathways to Conservative Identification -- Part II. Polarization and the Party System -- VI. Partisan Differences in Job Approval Ratings of George W. Bush and U.S. Senators in the States -- VII. Political Participation, Polarization, and Public Opinion -- VIII. Political Parties in the Capital Economy of Modern Campaigns -- IX. Candidates and Parties in Congressional Elections -- X. The Myth of the Independent Voter Revisited -- Part III. Participation and Representation -- XI. Who Really Votes? -- XII. Who Governs if Everyone Votes? -- XIII. The Effects of Registration Laws on Voter Turnout -- XIV. Issue Preferences, Civic Engagement, and the Transformation of American Politics -- References -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

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 participation, and the paradoxical relationship between turnout and democratic representation. These studies propel a foundational argument about democracy. Voters can only do as well as the alternatives on offer. These alternatives are constrained by third players, in particular activists, interest groups, and financial contributors. The result: voters often appear to be shortsighted, extreme, and inconsistent because the alternatives they must choose between are shortsighted, extreme, and inconsistent. Facing the Challenge of Democracy features contributions by John Aldrich, Stephen Ansolabehere, Edward Carmines, Jack Citrin, Susanna Dilliplane, Christopher Ellis, Michael Ensley, Melanie Freeze, Donald Green, Eitan Hersh, Simon Jackman, Gary Jacobson, Matthew Knee, Jonathan Krasno, Arthur Lupia, David Magleby, Eric McGhee, Diana Mutz, Candice Nelson, Benjamin Page, Kathryn Pearson, Eric Schickler, John Sides, James Stimson, Lynn Vavreck, Michael Wagner, Mark Westlye, and Tao Xie.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Jul 2021)