Tides of consent : how public opinion shapes American politics / James A. Stimson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stimson, James A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public opinion--United States.

Public opinion.

Politics and government.

United States.

United States--Politics and government--Public opinion.

Physical Description:

xxii, 181 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Contents:

Preface: The Shutdown xi

On Point of View xvii

On How the Book Came to Be Written xviii

On Truth, Objectivity, and Spin xix

1 Opinion Flows 1

September 11 4

Policy Preferences 6

So, What's New? 9

A Theory of Public Opinion 12

Some Postulates about Opinion Movement 14

Design of the Book 21

2 What the Public Wants from Government 23

Thinking about Public Opinion 25

Absolute and Relative 30

Means and Ends 33

What Are the Considerations? Policy Domains 37

Some Newer Policy Conflicts 51

3 Left and Right Movements in Preference 58

The Issue Evolution Theory of Issue Alignment 60

Three Issue Evolutions 70

Preferences for Liberalism and Conservatism 76

Ideology: Operational and Symbolic 84

4 The Great Horse Race: Finding Meaning in Presidential Campaigns 96

The Lore of Presidential Campaigns: Three Stories 99

Do the Polls Predict Presidential Elections? 108

So, What Really Matters? 114

Party Nominating Conventions 121

Canadidate Debates 129

5 Between the Campaigns: Public Approval and Disapproval of Government 137

The Presidency 140

U.S. Senators 148

Governors 152

Trust in Government 153

Is Approval Generic? 154

6 On Politics at the Margin 158

A Tale of Three Elections 159

Who Accounts for Change in American Politics? 162

The Rhythms of Opinion: A Reconsideration 165

On Marginal Democracy 170.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 173-175) and index.

ISBN:

0521841348

0521601177

OCLC:

54694665

Online:

Publisher description