Popular Efficacy in the Democratic Era: A Reexamination of Electoral Accountability in the United States, 1828-2000
()
About this ebook
Social scientists have long criticized American voters for being "unsophisticated" in the way they acquire and use political information. The low level of political sophistication leaves them vulnerable to manipulation by political "elites," whose sway over voters is deemed incontrovertible and often decisive. In this book, Peter Nardulli challenges the conventional wisdom that citizens are "manageable fools," with little capacity to exercise independent judgment in the voting booth. Rather, he argues, voters are eminently capable of playing an efficacious role in democratic politics and of routinely demonstrating the ability to evaluate competing stewards in a discriminating manner.
Nardulli's book offers a cognitively based model of voting and uses a normal vote approach to analyzing local-level election returns. It examines the entire sweep of United States presidential elections in the democratic era (1828 to 2000), making it the most encompassing empirical analysis of presidential voting to date. Nardulli's analysis separates presidential elections into three categories: those that produce a major, enduring change in voting patterns, those that represent a short-term deviation from prevailing voting patterns, and those in which the dominant party receives a resounding endorsement from the electorate. These "disequilibrating" elections have been routine in American electoral history, particularly after the adoption of the Progressive-Era reforms.
Popular Efficacy in the Democratic Era provides a dramatically different picture of mass-elite linkages than most prior studies of American democracy, and an image of voters as being neither foolish nor manageable. Moreover, it shows why party elites must take proactive steps to provide for the core political desires of voters.
Peter F. Nardulli
Peter F. Nardulli is Professor of Political Science and head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the founding director of UIUC's Center for the Study of Democratic Governance.
Related to Popular Efficacy in the Democratic Era
Related ebooks
Representation: Elections and Beyond Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Laboratories against Democracy: How National Parties Transformed State Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLocal Elections and the Politics of Small-Scale Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Race Card: Campaign Strategy, Implicit Messages, and the Norm of Equality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCongress, the Press, and Political Accountability Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCity and Regime in the American Republic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsExperts and Politicians: Reform Challenges to Machine Politics in New York, Cleveland, and Chicago Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Everyday Politics: Reconnecting Citizens and Public Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Tyranny of the Two-Party System Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDemocratic Equality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDemocracy: A Beginner's Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Politics of Nonpartisanship: A Study of California City Elections Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhilosophical Perspectives on Democracy in the 21st Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsElection Day: How We Vote and What It Means for Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsControversial Ideologies in Power: Assessing the Impact on Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReforming Democracies: Six Facts About Politics That Demand a New Agenda Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEveryone Counts: Could "Participatory Budgeting" Change Democracy? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Democratic Governance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGoverning the Evergreen State: Political Life in Washington Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAccountability in State Legislatures Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrinceton Readings in American Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPutting People Back in Politics: The Revival of American Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmbition in America: Political Power and the Collapse of Citizenship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew York City Politics: Governing Gotham Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All Health Politics Is Local: Community Battles for Medical Care and Environmental Health Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsControlling Bureaucracies: Dilemmas in Democratic Governance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Voter’s Guide to Election Polls; Fifth Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConstructing Public Opinion: How Political Elites Do What They Like and Why We Seem to Go Along with It Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Social Citizen: Peer Networks and Political Behavior Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Shrinking Political Arena: Participation and Ethnicity in African Politics, with a Case Study of Uganda Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Politics For You
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on the U.S.-Israeli War on the Palestinians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Capitalism and Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Closing of the American Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Letter to Liberals: Censorship and COVID: An Attack on Science and American Ideals Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Reviews for Popular Efficacy in the Democratic Era
0 ratings0 reviews