Waves of discontent : electoral volatility, public policymaking, and the health of American democracy / Jacob F. H. Smith

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Jacob F. H., 1990- author.

Series:

Legislative politics & policy making.

Legislative politics & policy making

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Elections--United States--21st century.

Elections.

Voting research--United States--21st century.

Voting research.

Voting--United States--21st century.

Voting.

Political participation--United States--21st century.

Political participation.

Policy sciences--United States--21st century.

Policy sciences.

Democracy--United States--21st century.

Democracy.

United States--Politics and government--21st century.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 169 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Electoral volatility, public policy making, and the health of American democracy

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 2025.

Summary:

After a period of relative calm in congressional elections prior to 2006, America has experienced a series of highly competitive, volatile national elections. Since then, at least one of the US House, US Senate, and presidency have flipped party control--often with a large House or Senate seat swing--with the exception of the 2012 election. In Waves of Discontent, Jacob F.H. Smith argues that a pervasive feeling of displeasure in the American public has caused this increase in electoral volatility. Conducting statistical analyses of a wide array of surveys, Smith found that these feelings of displeasure translate to lower turnout among voters from the president's party and a higher percentage of independents voting for the other party. Subsequently, he conducted a content analysis of New York Times articles to look at the connection between unrest in American society and seat swings in congressional elections, even before the existence of polling. Examining the consequences of volatility in congressional elections reveals that political amateurs are more likely to win in wave years than in normal years. Based on this data, Smith presents a new theory about the policy process--the policy doom loop--in which frustration among voters at both the inability of Congress to pass policy and anger at policies that actually do pass results in even more churn in congressional elections. Waves of Discontent offers some suggestions to promote constructive policymaking efforts in Washington to reduce frustration in the electorate.

Contents:

The rise of electoral volatility

Political discontent and the roots of electoral volatility

Examining political discontent and electoral volatility before polling

Congressional capacity and the consequences of discontent

Policy doom loop: how electoral volatility perpetuates itself

Ending the policy doom loop.

Notes:

Title from eBook information screen..

Includes bibliographical references (pages 153-169) and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

0-472-90538-4

OCLC:

1506204439