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Author: Jody C Baumgartner
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538129175
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233
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Book Description
During every election cycle, political observers generate a seemingly limitless supply of theories, opinions, and predictions. Unfortunately, many of these assertions oversimplify complex subjects or overhype the latest political fads. Inevitably, some misinformation becomes part of the conventional wisdom about American elections. The objective of Conventional Wisdom and American Elections: Exploding Myths, Exploring Misconceptions is to bring clarity to several of these subjects. For example, it is now commonplace for commentators to emphasize the negative tactics and practices of the campaigns of presidential candidates. In 2016, some commentators suggested that the presidential campaign was the “nastiest” ever, with the campaigns of President Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and their supporters, going to “new extremes” of negativity. However, these claims are not new. Dating as far back as the presidential election of 1800, critics of Thomas Jefferson stated that his potential victory would bring about legal prostitution and the burning of the Bible. In 1824, opponents of Andrew Jackson charged that he was a murderer and that his wife was a bigamist. Perhaps most scurrilous of all, Jackson’s opponents even accused his dead mother of being a prostitute. In total, Conventional Wisdom and American Elections identifies eleven widely held myths and misconceptions about elections in the United States. The conclusions drawn throughout the book are based on the most current political science research. In some instances, the literature is clear in debunking popular myths about American elections. On other issues, research findings are more mixed. In either case, Conventional Wisdom and American Elections clarifies the issues so that readers can discern between those in which scholars have largely resolved and those in which honest debate remains.
Author: Jody C Baumgartner
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538129175
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233
Get Book Here
Book Description
During every election cycle, political observers generate a seemingly limitless supply of theories, opinions, and predictions. Unfortunately, many of these assertions oversimplify complex subjects or overhype the latest political fads. Inevitably, some misinformation becomes part of the conventional wisdom about American elections. The objective of Conventional Wisdom and American Elections: Exploding Myths, Exploring Misconceptions is to bring clarity to several of these subjects. For example, it is now commonplace for commentators to emphasize the negative tactics and practices of the campaigns of presidential candidates. In 2016, some commentators suggested that the presidential campaign was the “nastiest” ever, with the campaigns of President Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and their supporters, going to “new extremes” of negativity. However, these claims are not new. Dating as far back as the presidential election of 1800, critics of Thomas Jefferson stated that his potential victory would bring about legal prostitution and the burning of the Bible. In 1824, opponents of Andrew Jackson charged that he was a murderer and that his wife was a bigamist. Perhaps most scurrilous of all, Jackson’s opponents even accused his dead mother of being a prostitute. In total, Conventional Wisdom and American Elections identifies eleven widely held myths and misconceptions about elections in the United States. The conclusions drawn throughout the book are based on the most current political science research. In some instances, the literature is clear in debunking popular myths about American elections. On other issues, research findings are more mixed. In either case, Conventional Wisdom and American Elections clarifies the issues so that readers can discern between those in which scholars have largely resolved and those in which honest debate remains.
Author: Jody C. Baumgartner
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 9781442254879
Category : Elections
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Conventional Wisdom and American Elections debunks some of the more common misunderstandings that have arisen about the electoral process in the past few decades. Topics include campaign finance, political participation and voting, and the roles played by campaigns, negative campaigning, political parties, and the media in the electoral process.
Author: Jennifer C. Lucas
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498566626
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 273
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Book Description
The 2016 presidential election was unconventional in many ways. The election of President Donald Trump caught many by surprise, with a true outsider — a candidate with no previous governmental experience and mixed support from his own party — won the election by winning in traditionally Democratic states with coattails that extended to Republican Senate candidates and resulted in unified Republican government for the first time since 2008. This result broke with the pre-election conventional wisdom, which expected Hillary Clinton to win the presidency and a closer Senate divide. This surprising result led many political scientists to question whether 2016 truly marked a major turning point in American elections as portrayed in the media — a break from the conventional wisdom – or whether it was really the exception that proved the rule. In this volume, political scientists examine previous theories and trends in light of the 2016 election to determine the extent to which 2016 was a break from previous theories. While in some areas it seems as though 2016 was really just what would have been predicted, in others, this election and the new president pose significant challenges to mainstream theories in political science. In particular, prominent political scientists examine whether voter trends, with particular focus on groups by gender, age, geography, and ethnicity, and election issues, especially the role of the Supreme Court, followed or bucked recent trends. Several political scientists examine the unconventional nomination process and whether this signals a new era for political parties. The role of conspiracy theories and voter confidence in the administration of elections are also discussed. Finally, contributors also examine the indirect effect the presidential candidates, especially Trump, played in congressional election rhetoric.
Author: Karen M. Kaufmann
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199710511
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272
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Book Description
Late deciders go for the challenger; turnout helps the Democrats; the gender gap results from a surge in Democratic preference among women--these and many other myths are standard fare among average citizens, political pundits, and even some academics. But are these conventional wisdoms--familiar to anyone who watches Sunday morning talk shows--really valid? Unconventional Wisdom offers a novel yet highly accessible synthesis of what we know about American voters and elections. It not only provides an integrated overview of the central themes in American politics--parties, polarization, turnout, partisan bias, campaign effects, swing voters, the gender gap, and the youth vote--it upends many of our fundamental preconceptions. Most importantly, it shows that the American electorate is much more stable than we have been led to believe, and that the voting patterns we see today have deep roots in our history. Throughout, the book provides comprehensive information on voting patterns; illuminates (and corrects) popular myths about voters and elections; and details the empirical foundations of conventional wisdoms that many understand poorly or not at all. Written by three experts on American politics, Unconventional Wisdom serves as both a standard reference and a concise overview of the subject. Both informative and witty, the book is likely to become a standard work in the field, essential reading for anyone interested in American politics.
Author: Lara M. Brown
Publisher: Cambria Press
ISBN: 1604977027
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 496
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Book Description
"This book will compel scholars to take a new look at the role of "political opportunism" in the presidential selection process. Lara Brown provides a fresh, innovative exploration of the roots of opportunism, one that challenges conventional wisdom as it advances our understanding of this complex topic."--Michael A. Genovese, Loyola Marymount University.
Author: John Sides
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691201765
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 360
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Book Description
A gripping in-depth look at the presidential election that stunned the world Donald Trump's election victory resulted in one of the most unexpected presidencies in history. Identity Crisis provides the definitive account of the campaign that seemed to break all the political rules—but in fact didn't. Featuring a new afterword by the authors that discusses the 2018 midterms and today's emerging political trends, this compelling book describes how Trump's victory was foreshadowed by changes in the Democratic and Republican coalitions that were driven by people's racial and ethnic identities, and how the Trump campaign exacerbated these divisions by hammering away on race, immigration, and religion. The result was an epic battle not just for the White House but about what America should be.
Author: Stephen Skowronek
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 9780812219906
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 460
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Book Description
Political actors are a diverse lot, animated and engaged by the prospect of change. Operating inside and outside the government, they are out to instigate change or inhibit it, to promote or deflect it, to channel or absorb it. Their interactions keep the American polity in a perpetual state of development, rendering it always to some degree unsettled. In the past, the study of American political development has treated political institutions and ideas as disembodied subjects. In Formative Acts, leading scholars in the field seek to refocus the debate on the political agency of people, analyzing various modes of action and various sites of interaction with an eye to their transformative potential. Seventeen essays illuminate critical junctures in American political development—from the social movements for women's suffrage, civil rights, and workers' rights, to Reconstruction, to the regulation of prescription drugs—as vantage points from which to examine how change is enacted. Contributors question not simply how political actors behave but also how and to what extent their actions change the American polity itself. At the same time, the transformative act is presented as larger than any one actor or group of actors; often the act of transformation involves many actors and a panoply of motives. Three concepts claim center stage: political entrepreneurship—especially as it directs attention to ambiguity and malleability in the rules of action found in any complex institutional setting; political leadership—specifically the conundrum of democratic leadership; and political agency—particularly the strongly voluntaristic construction of that concept found within American political culture. The authors focus on each of these categories to link the study of political action more effectively to our understanding of the formation and reformation of American government and politics.
Author: John B. Judis
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743254783
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244
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Book Description
ONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR AND A WINNER OF THE WASHINGTON MONTHLY'S ANNUAL POLITICAL BOOK AWARD Political experts John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira convincingly use hard data -- demographic, geographic, economic, and political -- to forecast the dawn of a new progressive era. In the 1960s, Kevin Phillips, battling conventional wisdom, correctly foretold the dawn of a new conservative era. His book, The Emerging Republican Majority, became an indispensable guide for all those attempting to understand political change through the 1970s and 1980s. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, with the country in Republican hands, The Emerging Democratic Majority is the indispensable guide to this era. In five well-researched chapters and a new afterword covering the 2002 elections, Judis and Teixeira show how the most dynamic and fastest-growing areas of the country are cultivating a new wave of Democratic voters who embrace what the authors call "progressive centrism" and take umbrage at Republican demands to privatize social security, ban abortion, and cut back environmental regulations. As the GOP continues to be dominated by neoconservatives, the religious right, and corporate influence, this is an essential volume for all those discontented with their narrow agenda -- and a clarion call for a new political order.
Author: Mark A. Smith
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226764656
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 257
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Book Description
Most people believe that large corporations wield enormous political power when they lobby for policies as a cohesive bloc. With this controversial book, Mark A. Smith sets conventional wisdom on its head. In a systematic analysis of postwar lawmaking, Smith reveals that business loses in legislative battles unless it has public backing. This surprising conclusion holds because the types of issues that lead businesses to band together—such as tax rates, air pollution, and product liability—also receive the most media attention. The ensuing debates give citizens the information they need to hold their representatives accountable and make elections a choice between contrasting policy programs. Rather than succumbing to corporate America, Smith argues, representatives paradoxically become more responsive to their constituents when facing a united corporate front. Corporations gain the most influence over legislation when they work with organizations such as think tanks to shape Americans' beliefs about what government should and should not do.
Author: John Sides
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691163634
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 360
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Book Description
A unique "moneyball" look at the 2012 U.S. presidential contest between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney "Game changer." We heard it so many times during the 2012 U.S. presidential election. But what actually made a difference in the contest—and what was just hype? In this groundbreaking book, John Sides and Lynn Vavreck tell the dramatic story of the election—with a big difference. Using an unusual "moneyball" approach and drawing on extensive quantitative data, they look beyond the anecdote, folklore, and conventional wisdom that often pass for election analysis to separate what was truly important from what was irrelevant. The Gamble combines this data with the best social science research and colorful on-the-ground reporting, providing the most accurate and precise account of the election yet written—and the only book of its kind. In a new preface, the authors reflect on the place of The Gamble in the tradition of presidential election studies, its reception to date, and possible paths for future social science research.
