The American Voter Revisited or Theories of the Policy Process

The American Voter Revisited

Author: Michael S Lewis Beck

Today we are politically polarized as never before. The presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 will be remembered as two of the most contentious political events in American history. Yet despite the recent election upheaval, The American Voter Revisited discovers that voter behavior has been remarkably consistent over the last half century. And if the authors are correct in their predictions, 2008 will show just how reliably the American voter weighs in, election after election.

The American Voter Revisited re-creates the outstanding 1960 classic The American Voter---which was based on the presidential elections of 1952 and 1956---following the same format, theory, and mode of analysis as the original. In this new volume, the authors test the ideas and methods of the original against presidential election surveys from 2000 and 2004. Surprisingly, the contemporary American voter is found to behave politically much like voters of the 1950s.

"Simply essential. For generations, serious students of American politics have kept The American Voter right on their desk. Now, everyone will keep The American Voter Revisited right next to it."
---Larry J. Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of A More Perfect Constitution

"The American Voter Revisited is destined to be the definitive volume on American electoral behavior for decades. It is a timely book for 2008, with in-depth analyses of the 2000 and 2004 elections updating and extending the findings of the original The American Voter. It is also quite accessible, making it ideal for graduate students as well as advanced undergrads."
---AndrewE. Smith, Director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center

"A theoretically faithful, empirically innovative, comprehensive update of the original classic."
---Sam Popkin, Professor of Political Science, University of California, San Diego

Michael S. Lewis-Beck is F. Wendell Miller Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Iowa. William G. Jacoby is Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University. Helmut Norpoth is Professor of Political Science at Stony Brook University. Herbert F. Weisberg is Professor of Political Science at Ohio State University.

Stephen K. Shaw - Library Journal

Anyone wishing to understand political psychology and especially voting behavior in the United States should start with this penetrating, provocative analysis of the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, which reprises the insightful 1960 classic, The American Voter. A quartet of outstanding political scientists-Lewis-Beck (Univ. of Iowa), Helmut Norpoth (Stony Brook Univ.), William G. Jacoby (Michigan State Univ.), and Herbert F. Weisberg (Ohio State Univ.)-carefully and critically examines the nonpartisan National Science Foundation's National Presidential Election Surveys of 2000 and 2004 in order to demonstrate the significance of voting behavior for the American polity, particularly with respect to the crucial choice of the American presidency. In 15 chapters paralleling those of the earlier title and each including a "Comment and Controversy" section, they succeed with distinction. This impressive and persuasive piece of political science scholarship is neither a quick nor an easy read. Serious undergraduates, graduate students in political science and political scientists will be best rewarded by this treatment of the psychological and attitudinal factors explaining and supporting voter behavior. The gold standard of serious scholarship in the era of political polarization; highly recommended for undergraduate and graduate school libraries.

Table of Contents:

How to Read This Book

Sect. I Introductory

1 Setting 3

2 Theoretical Orientation 19

Sect. II Political Attitudes and the Vote

3 Perceptions of the Parties and Candidates 31

4 Partisan Choice 60

5 Voting Turnout 82

Sect. III The Political Context

6 The Impact of Party Identification 111

7 The Development of Party Identification 138

8 Public Policy and Political Preference 161

9 Attitude Structure and the Problem of Ideology 201

10 The Formation of Issue Concepts and Partisan Change 254

Sect. IV The Social and Economic Context

11 Membership in Social Groupings 305

12 Class and Other Social Characteristics 334

13 Economic Antecedents of Political Behavior 365

Sect. V The Electoral Decision and the Political System

14 The Electoral Decision 393

15 Electoral Behavior and the Political System 415

Afterword: The American Voter Then and Now 424

App. A Counterpart Tables and Figures 429

App. B Replication of The American Voter 435

References 441

Index 481

Book about: Whats Right with You or Community Mental Health Reader

Theories of the Policy Process

Author: Paul A Sabatier

Theories of the Policy Process provides a forum for the proponents of several of the most promising and widely used theoretical frameworks to present the basic propositions of their frameworks, to assess the empirical evidence that has developed, and to discuss promising directions for future research. The first edition contained analyses of Institutional Rational Choice (Ostrom), Multiple Streams (Zahariadis), Punctuated Equilibrium (Jones et al.), Advocacy Coalition Framework (Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith), and Policy Diffusion (Berry and Berry). The second edition revises these and adds new chapters on Social Construction and Policy Design (Schneider et al.) and Policy Networks (Adam and Kriesi). It also contains a much more serious analysis of the European literature relevant to each of the frameworks. Finally, the new edition contains a revised chapter by Edella Schlager, presenting a comparative analysis and evaluation of the relevant frameworks, and a concluding chapter by the editor suggesting a number of strategies for improving the state of theorizing in this field.

Booknews

Provides a forum for seven proponents of widely used theories of policy process to present basic propositions of their frameworks, to assess the empirical evidence that has developed over the last decade, and to discuss promising directions for future research. After an introduction reviewing the literature, sections cover alternative views of the role of rationality in the policy process, frameworks focusing on policy change over fairly long periods, and frameworks comparing policies across a large number of political systems. The editor is affiliated with the department of environmental science and policy at the University of California-Davis. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)