Presidential elections : strategies and structures of Aamerican politics

Polsby and Wildavsky’s classic text, now updated by Stephen Schier and David Hopkins, 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 different political actors—incumbents, challengers, Democrats, Republicans, consultants, party officials, activists, delegates, journalists, and voters—by understanding the ways in which their world is organized by incentives, regulations, events, resources, customs, and opportunities. Thoroughly revised and updated, this Sixteenth Edition provides everything students need to know about presidential elections going into the 2024 cycle. Figures, Tables, 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 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 Digital 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” The Early States 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 What Do These Historical Vignettes Teach? Super Tuesday and Later Primaries State and Territorial Caucuses Delegate Allocation Superdelegates An Ever-Changing Nomination Process The National Party 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 Winning the Media Game Campaign Professionals Policy Advisers Polling Focus Groups Television Advertising Digital Media Televised Debates Getting Out the Vote Campaign Blunders Forecasting the Outcome Counting the Vote Part III Issues 6 Appraisals The Political Theory of Policy Government Reform by Means of Participatory Democracy 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 Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Notes Index About the Authors