A Citizens Guide To The Political Psychology Of Voting

Author : David P. Redlawsk
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317272870
Total Pages : 201 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book A Citizen’s Guide to the Political Psychology of Voting written by David P. Redlawsk and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-04-06 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the run-up to a contentious 2020 presidential election, the much-maligned American voter may indeed be wondering, “How did we get here?” A Citizen’s Guide to the Political Psychology of Voting offers a way of thinking about how voters make decisions that provides both hope and concern. In many ways, voters may be able to effectively process vast amounts of information in order to decide which candidates to vote for in concert with their ideas, values, and priorities. But human limitations in information processing must give us pause. While we all might think we want to be rational information processors, political psychologists recognize that most of the time we do not have the time or the motivation to do so. The question is, can voters do a “good enough” job even if they fail to account for everything during the campaign? Evidence suggests that they can, but it isn’t easy. Here, Redlawsk and Habegger portray a wide variety of voter styles and approaches—from the most motivated and engaged to the farthest removed and disenchanted—in vignettes that connect the long tradition of voter survey research to real life voting challenges. They explore how voters search for political information and make use of it in evaluating candidates and their positions. Ultimately, they find that American voters are reasonably competent in making well-enough informed vote choices efficiently and responsibly. For citizen voters as well as students and scholars, these results should encourage regular turnout for elections now and in the future.

Author : David P. Redlawsk
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781138193994
Total Pages : 184 pages
Book Rating : 4.92/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book A Citizens Guide to Voting written by David P. Redlawsk and published by . This book was released on 2020-02 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the run-up to a contentious 2020 presidential election, the much-maligned American voter may indeed be wondering, "How did we get here?" A Citizen's Guide to the Political Psychology of Voting offers a way of thinking about how voters make decisions that provides both hope and concern. In many ways, voters may be able to effectively process vast amounts of information in order to decide which candidates to vote for in concert with their ideas, values, and priorities. But human limitations in information processing must give us pause. While we all might think we want to be rational information processors, political psychologists recognize that most of the time we do not have the time or the motivation to do so. The question is, can voters do a "good enough" job even if they fail to account for everything during the campaign? Evidence suggests that they can, but it isn't easy. Here, Redlawsk and Habegger portray a wide variety of voter styles and approaches--from the most motivated and engaged to the farthest removed and disenchanted--in vignettes that connect the long tradition of voter survey research to real life voting challenges. They explore how voters search for political information and make use of it in evaluating candidates and their positions. Ultimately, they find that American voters are reasonably competent in making well-enough informed vote choices efficiently and responsibly. For citizen voters as well as students and scholars, these results should encourage regular turnout for elections now and in the future.

Author : Costas Panagopoulos
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 131751081X
Total Pages : 165 pages
Book Rating : 4.19/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book A Citizen's Guide to U.S. Elections written by Costas Panagopoulos and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political observers routinely lament that American democracy is broken, and many of them blame electoral malfunction. But is the system really broken? Panagopoulos and Weinschenk make the case that citizens are empowered to fix what’s wrong with electoral politics and renew democracy in America, all within the institutional setup and framework of the existing system. Put simply, much of what is broken can be fixed if people stop throwing up their arms and start rolling up their sleeves to do the hard work of building our democracy. This book provides an overview of the basic features that characterize contemporary elections in the United States and includes discussions about voter participation and decision-making patterns, money in elections, and the role of parties and the media in presidential, congressional and state and local races. It also outlines some of the most important trends and challenges in the current system. As a call to action, each chapter features potential solutions to the challenges that exist in U.S. elections.

Author : Douglas J. Amy
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313002452
Total Pages : 246 pages
Book Rating : 4.58/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Behind the Ballot Box written by Douglas J. Amy and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2000-09-30 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interest in voting systems and voting system reform is growing in the United States. Voting systems—the procedures by which we cast votes and elect our public officials—are a crucial part of the democratic election process. The decision to use one kind of voting system rather than another has far-reaching political consequences. Among other things, voting systems help to determine which officials are elected to run our governments, the variety of parties that voters have to choose from at the polls, whether political minorities can win any representation, and whether the majority will rule. Amy gives readers all the information and analytical tools needed to make intelligent choices among voting systems. He provides a set of political criteria that can be used to judge voting systems and gives detailed descriptions of all the common voting systems used in the United States and other Western democracies, including winner-take-all systems as well as proportional representation systems. He also provides an analysis of the various political advantages and disadvantages associated with each type of system. This is an important guide for citizens, government officials, political activists, students, and anyone who wants to learn more about voting systems and their political implications.

Author : Paul Goren
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0195396146
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book On Voter Competence written by Paul Goren and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues with the standard interpretation of the American voter as incompetent in matters of policy.

Author : David Patrick Houghton
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135015155
Total Pages : 168 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book A Citizen's Guide to American Foreign Policy written by David Patrick Houghton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-20 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American foreign policy often looks like a trail of man-made debris and disaster. Of course, the explanations for many poorly-made decisions are rather complex. In this brief and cogent analysis, Houghton shows us that understanding American foreign policy often comes down to recognizing the cognitive limitations of the decision-makers, which affects the foreign policy process. Then there is the nature of the decisions themselves. Quite a few decisions in American foreign policy involve ‘tragic’ choices, where leaders are effectively confronted with a series of progressively bad or uncomfortable options. And it is equally clear that some policies are not the product of any one individual’s preferences, but emerge as a consequence of the way in which complex modern governments with large bureaucracies operate. Written with the interested layperson in mind, as well as students of international affairs, this Citizen’s Guide to American Foreign Policy asks questions like, "Why do presidents so often do things which seem to be directly against the national interests of the United States – not just in retrospect, but even at the time?" "Why do there seem to be so many fiascoes in US foreign policy?" "Why does Congress sometimes tie the hands of the president in foreign affairs?" "Why do presidents seem to respond more to opinion polls or to what’s on CNN and Fox News than they do to the core interests of the United States?" Houghton’s overview helps us see past the partisan in-fighting that too often obscures the central issues in foreign affairs. This is vital, required reading for all readers who wish to better understand America’s involvement in the world.

Author : Paul Goren
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199908699
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book On Voter Competence written by Paul Goren and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-24 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A half century of research shows that most citizens are shockingly uninformed about public affairs, liberal-conservative ideologies, and the issues of the day. This has led most scholars to condemn typical American voters as politically brainless and to conclude that policy voting lies beyond their reach. On Voter Competence breaks sharply from this view. According to Paul Goren, people vote based on abstract policy principles, a practice that has escaped scholars because they have searched for evidence of policy voting in the wrong places. Once we turn away from liberal-conservative predispositions and issue preferences, we find that nearly everyone holds genuine policy principles and uses these to guide their votes on election day. Three key principles divide the Democratic and Republican parties: limited government, traditional morality, and military strength. Deftly integrating research in social and political history, social and political psychology, and electoral behavior, Goren argues that nearly all citizens keep these principles in mind. The principles function as central heuristics in their belief systems, are rooted deeply in basic human values, and guide presidential choice to a similar degree for voters across the sophistication spectrum. Goren's comprehensive analysis of opinion data from the past six presidential elections and several new national surveys yields unequivocal support for these claims. Contrary to the indictment leveled by most of the scholarly community and political pundits more generally, ordinary citizens who are neither deeply knowledgeable nor engaged with the world of public affairs prove as adept as their more sophisticated counterparts in grounding presidential votes in abstract views about public policy. Insofar as citizen competence can be equated with the development and use of bedrock principles, the American voter performs far better than has been recognized in the past.

Author : Wayne P. Steger
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780415827591
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.90/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book A Citizen's Guide to Presidential Nominations written by Wayne P. Steger and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The method the United States uses to nominate presidential candidates can sometimes seem like a media circus, over-hyped and overly speculative. Yet the process is one distinct to American politics, crucial to the way that students and citizens comprehend politics and participation. This concise and coherent Citizen's Guide examines the critical issues in presidential nominations and how they affect who we as citizens choose to nominate. Political scientist Wayne Steger defines the nominating system as an interactive process, involving both the active constituencies of a political party and the candidates themselves. He explains how candidates must appeal to a broad spectrum of elected and party officials, political activists, and aligned groups in order to form a winning coalition within their party. Historical context plays into how party coalitions change over time. Steger evokes how shifts in demographics, economic conditions, and public mood result in a changing set of issues that will be essential to voters in each election. The book then looks at how the nomination rules have changed to accommodate changing power relations within political party coalitions and innovations in technology and strategy. Finally, the guide closely considers issues of candidacy. What happens in primaries with one strong candidate versus those with a field of weaker ones? How exactly do candidates identify a path to victory? By addressing the key issues of presidential nominations and clearly elucidating the past and current factors that result in nominations, Steger's guide will be informative, relevant, and accessible for students and general readers alike.

Author : Shanto Iyengar
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780393664874
Total Pages : 390 pages
Book Rating : 4.72/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Media Politics written by Shanto Iyengar and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides crucial context for important recent developments

Author : Steven Rosenfeld
Publisher : Alternet Books
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 140 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Count My Vote written by Steven Rosenfeld and published by Alternet Books. This book was released on 2008 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Count My Vote is a hands-on voter's guide to navigating every possible voting situation one might encounter in the upcoming elections. The extended primary and caucus season in early 2008 has shown that in state after state, numerous problems face voters -- problems that may be the beginning of a larger issue poised to surface on November 4, 2008. Count My Vote prepares the voting public to cast their ballots with confidence. Voters will learn how to deal with new voting technology and will get tips on avoiding problems at the polls in all 50 states. The guide analyzes reports by activists, public interest lawyers, and voter demographics across America, and provides suggestions on what voters should be aware of before heading to the polls. Count My Vote also offers a state-by-state description of voting procedures and deadlines and lists important resources.