Polling to govern : public opinion and presidential leadership / Diane J. Heith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heith, Diane J.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Presidents--United States--Decision making.

Presidents.

Political leadership--United States.

Political leadership.

Decision making.

United States.

Public opinion--United States.

Public opinion.

Physical Description:

xvii, 194 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Stanford, Calif. : Stanford Law and Politics, 2004.

Summary:

Presidents spend millions of dollars on public opinion polling while in office. Critics often point to this polling as evidence that a "permanent campaign" has taken over the White House at the expense of traditional governance. But has presidential polling truly changed the shape of presidential leadership? Diane J. Heith examines the polling practices of six presidential administrations (those of Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton) dissecting the poll apparatus of each period. She contends that while White House polls significantly influence presidential messages and responses to events, they do not impact presidential decisions to the extent that observers often claim. Heith concludes that polling, and thus the campaign environment, exists in tandem with long-established governing strategies.

Contents:

1 Public Opinion and Theories of Presidential Leadership 1

2 Bringing the Permanent Campaign to the White House: Staffing the Poll Apparatus 13

3 Connecting Poll Data to Presidential Needs 40

4 The Adversarial Presidency: Using the Polls to Define "Us and Them" 58

5 The Policy Cycle Meets the Permanent Campaign 74

6 Winning the Permanent Campaign? 103

7 Crises and Polls: A Match Made in Heaven 122

8 Conclusions: The Public and a Public Opinion Presidency 135.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [146]-184) and index.

ISBN:

0804748489

0804748497

OCLC:

51985023