Tides of Consent
豆瓣
How Public Opinion Shapes American Politics
James A. Stimson
简介
Tracking trends in American public opinion, this study examines moods of public policy over time. James Stimson looks at shorter term movements as the public approves or disapproves politicians, trusts or distrusts government. His book is distinctive in that it focuses on determining the unobserved true opinion that lies beneath superficial polls. It argues that public opinion is decisive in American politics and identifies the citizens who produce influential change as a relatively small subset of the American electorate.
目录
Part I. Preface: The Shutdown: 1. On Point of View
2. On How the Book Came to be Written
3. On Truth, Objectivity, and Spin
Part II. :Opinion Flows: 4. A Theory of Public Opinion
5. Some Postulates About Opinion Movement
6. Design of the Book
Part III: What the Public Wants of Government: 7. Thinking About Public Opinion
8. Absolute and Relative
9. Means and Ends
10. What are the Considerations: Policy Domains
Some Newer Policy Conflicts
Part IV: Left and Rights Movements in Preference: 11. The Issue Evolution Theory of Issue Alignment
12. Three Issue Evolutions
13. Preference for Liberalism and Conservatism
14. Ideology
Part V. The Great Horse Race: 15. The Lore of Presidential Campaigns: Three Stories
16. Do the Polls Predict Presidential Elections?
17. So, What Really Matters?
18. Candidate Debates
Part VI: Between the Campaigns: 19. The Presidency
20. U.S. Senators
21. Governors
22. Trust in Government
23. Is Approval Generic?
Part VII. On Politics at the Margin: 24. A Tale of Three Elections
25. Who Accounts for Change in American Politics?
26. The Rhythms of Opinion: A Reconsideration
27. On Marginal Democracy.