Facing the Challenge of Democracy: Explorations in the Analysis of Public Opinion and Political Participation
Paul M. Sniderman and Benjamin Highton
Abstract
Citizens are political simpletons—that is only a modest exaggeration of a common characterization of voters. Certainly, there is no shortage of evidence of citizens' limited political knowledge, even about matters of the highest importance, along with inconsistencies in their thinking, some glaring by any standard. But this picture of citizens all too often approaches caricature. This book brings together leading political scientists who offer new insights into the political thinking of the public, the causes of party polarization, the motivations for political participation, and the paradoxic ... More
Citizens are political simpletons—that is only a modest exaggeration of a common characterization of voters. Certainly, there is no shortage of evidence of citizens' limited political knowledge, even about matters of the highest importance, along with inconsistencies in their thinking, some glaring by any standard. But this picture of citizens all too often approaches caricature. This book brings together leading political scientists who offer new insights into the political thinking of the public, the causes of party polarization, the motivations for political participation, and the paradoxical relationship between turnout and democratic representation. These studies propel a foundational argument about democracy. Voters can only do as well as the alternatives on offer. These alternatives are constrained by third players, in particular activists, interest groups, and financial contributors. The result: voters often appear to be shortsighted, extreme, and inconsistent because the alternatives they must choose between are shortsighted, extreme, and inconsistent.
Keywords:
voters,
citizens,
public,
party polarization,
political participation,
democratic representation,
voter turnout,
politics,
political activism
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2011 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780691151106 |
| Published to Princeton Scholarship Online: October 2017 |
DOI:10.23943/princeton/9780691151106.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Paul M. Sniderman, editor
Stanford University
Benjamin Highton, editor
University of California, Davis
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