Presidential Elections: Strategies and Structures of American Politics

by Nelson W. Polsby, Aaron Wildavsky, Steven E. Schier, David A. Hopkins

Overview

Polsby and Wildavsky’s classic text argues that the institutional rules of the presidential nomination and election processes, in combination with the behavior of the mass electorate, structure the strategic choices faced by politicians in powerful and foreseeable ways. We can make sense of the decisions made by differently situated political actors—incumbents, challengers, Democrats, Republicans, consultants, party official, activists, delegates, journalists, and voters—by understanding the ways in which their world is organized by incentives, regulations, events, resources, customs, and opportunities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538125113
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/05/2019
Edition description:	Fifteenth Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	7.03(w) x 9.99(h) x 0.53(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Steven E. Schier is Dorothy H. and Edward C. Congdon Professor of Political Science at Carleton College. He is the author or editor of 13 books including The Trump Presidency: Outsider in the Oval Office (2017) and Polarized: The Rise of Ideology in American Politics (2015), both with R&L.

David A. Hopkins is associate professor of political science at Boston College. His research and teaching interests include American political parties and elections, the U.S. Congress, voting behavior, public opinion, and research methods. He is the author of Red Fighting Blue: How Geography and Electoral Rules Polarize American Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2017), and Asymmetric Politics: Ideological Republicans and Group Interest Democrats (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Nelson W. Polsby was Heller Professor of Political Science and past Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught American politics for forty years.

Aaron Wildavsky was Class of 1940 Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and founding dean of Berkeley's Graduate (now Goldman) School of Public Policy.

Table of Contents

Tables, Figures, and Boxes
Preface

PART I. THE STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT

1. VOTERS
Why People Don’t Vote
Why People Do Vote: A Theory of Social Connectedness
Party Identification as Social Identity
Parties as Aggregates of Loyal Voters
Ideologies, Issues, and National Conditions in the Minds of Voters
Changes in Party Identification: Social Habit versus Contemporary Evaluation
A Central Strategic Problem: The Attentiveness of Voters

2. GROUPS
The Presidential Vote as an Aggregation of Interest Groups
Variations among Interest Groups
“Special” Interests, Campaign Spending, and Public Interest Groups
Political Parties as Organizations
Third Parties

3. RULES AND RESOURCES
Rules: The Electoral College
Thinking About Resources
Resources: Money
The Beverly Hills Primary
Campaign Finance in Presidential Primaries
Raising and Spending Money in the General Election
Does Money Buy Elections?
Campaign Finance Reform
Resources: Control over Information
Newspapers
Television
Internet Media
Incumbency as a Resource: The Presidency
Incumbency as a Liability: The Vice Presidency
The Balance of Resources

PART II. SEQUENCES

4. THE NOMINATION PROCESS
Before the Voting Begins: The “Invisible Primary”
Iowa and New Hampshire: First in the Nation
1972
1976
1992
2004
2008
2012
2016
What Do These Historical Vignettes Teach?
State Primaries
State Caucuses
Delegate Allocation
Superdelegates
The National Party Conventions
Party Delegates at the Conventions
The Convention as Advertising
The Vice Presidential Nominee
The Future of National Conventions

5. THE CAMPAIGN
The Well-Traveled Candidates
Persuading Voters
Economic Policy and Performance
Foreign Policy and Performance
Social Issues and the “Culture War”
Presentation of Self
Negative Campaigning
Getting Good Press
Campaign Professionals
Policy Advisers
Polling
Focus Groups
Television Advertising
New Media
Televised Debates
Getting Out the Vote
Campaign Blunders
Forecasting the Outcome
Counting the Vote

PART III. ISSUES

6. APPRAISALS
Reform upon Reform
The Political Theory of Policy Government
Reform by Means of Participatory Democracy
Some Specific Reforms
The Nomination Process
The Decline of the National Convention
The Electoral College
Party Platforms and Party Differences

7. AMERICAN PARTIES AND DEMOCRACY
Elections and Public Policy
Parties of Advocacy versus Parties of Intermediation

APPENDIXES
A. Vote by Groups in Presidential Elections, 1984–2016
B. Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections, by Population Characteristics, 1984–2016
C. Selections from the Democratic and Republican Party Platforms, 2016

Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

<:st>New edition of the standard work first published in 1964. Cited in Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Since it first published in 1964, Presidential Elections has been an instant classic. Schier and Hopkins continue the tradition by offering a 360-degree view of the changing American elections landscape.

Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier

Presidential Elections is the finest book of its type on the market. It is a wonderful teaching tool that presents accurate and up-to-date information on the election process. Highly recommended.

Martin J. Medhurst

Presidential Elections remains the classic text on the structure, history, and process of presidential campaign politics. It is unsurpassed in its coverage of the breadth of influences on elections and their roles in electoral history. This provides an excellent foundation for a better informed and more sophisticated perspective on our current electoral politics–particularly important in these hyper-polarized times.

James E. Campbell

Presidential Elections: Strategies and Structures of American Politics is the gold standard for textbooks on U.S. presidential elections. The volume thoroughly covers critical pieces of the puzzle of presidential elections including money, different campaign actors, and rules. In addition, it delves into equally important topics that often receive less attention such as the strategic factors in campaigns that can mean winning or losing for a candidate. The up-to-date nature of the volume is also outstanding in covering new trends in topics like media and information flow as well as the changing nature of presidential primaries. In short, this book is a must for those looking for a complete understanding of presidential elections in the U.S..

David Dulio

This book is in its 16th edition for a reason. No book on presidential elections is better. The scholarly coverage is logically developed, complete, and joyfully readable. Everything students need to know about presidential elections is clearly presented with skillful use of informative figures, tables, and charts. I have used this classic textbook for decades. I will continue to use it because my students love this book.

Kenneth F. Warren

Presidential Elections remains the classic text on the structure, history, and process of presidential campaign politics. It is unsurpassed in its coverage of the breadth of influences on elections and their roles in electoral history. This provides an excellent foundation for a better informed and more sophisticated perspective on our current electoral politics-particularly important in these hyper-polarized times.

--James E. Campbell, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, author, Polarized: Making Sense of a Divided America

Presidential Elections: Strategies and Structures of American Politics is the gold standard for textbooks on U.S. presidential elections. The volume thoroughly covers critical pieces of the puzzle of presidential elections including money, different campaign actors, and rules. In addition, it delves into equally important topics that often receive less attention such as the strategic factors in campaigns that can mean winning or losing for a candidate. The up-to-date nature of the volume is also outstanding in covering new trends in topics like media and information flow as well as the changing nature of presidential primaries. In short, this book is a must for those looking for a complete understanding of presidential elections in the U.S..

--David Dulio, Oakland University

This book is in its 16th edition for a reason. No book on presidential elections is better. The scholarly coverage is logically developed, complete, and joyfully readable. Everything students need to know about presidential elections is clearly presented with skillful use of informative figures, tables, and charts. I have used this classic textbook for decades. I will continue to use it because my students love this book.

--Kenneth F. Warren, Saint Louis University

From the Publisher