Synopses & Reviews
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."
---Andrew E. 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.
Synopsis
The presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 will be remembered as two of the most contentious and polarizing political events in American history.
In an attempt to understand what happened during these historic elections, The American Voter Revisited recreates the outstanding classic from 1960, The American Voter, following the same format, theory, and mode of analysis as the original.
The American Voter Revisited examines how contemporary voters decide, using the lens of the 1960 text, which was based on the presidential elections of 1952 and 1956. In this new volume, the ideas and methods of The American Voter are tested against presidential election surveys from 2000 and 2004. In a fascinating account, the contemporary American voter is found to behave politically in a fashion surprisingly similar to voters of the 1950s. Yet some things have changed. For one, the recent intense polarization of the two leading political parties has heightened the ideological tenor of American politics.
The organization of The American Voter Revisited follows closely the original book. Its fifteen chapters---about political attitudes, the political context, the social and economic context, and the electoral decision---parallel chapters in The American Voter, from the title itself to the style to the analytical framework. The aim is to reproduce the theory and the tables of the original but with an entirely new and up-to-date data set. In particular, where The American Voter concentrated on an understanding of voters through examination of the National Presidential Election Surveys of 1952 and 1956, this book studies the National Presidential Election Surveys of 2000 and 2004. In addition, each chapter includes a Comment and Controversy section, which brings the reader up-to-date on the numerous scholarly and political questions that the material of the chapter has generated over the years.
Just as The American Voter turned out to be a model text, The American Voter Revisited is sure to become a classic in the study of voter behavior and psychology.