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Author: Susan Herbst
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226327433
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244
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Book Description
Quantifying the American mood through opinion polls appears to be an unbiased means for finding out what people want. But in Numbered Voices, Susan Herbst demonstrates that the way public opinion is measured affects the use that voters, legislators, and journalists make of it. Exploring the history of public opinion in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, Herbst shows how numbers served both instrumental and symbolic functions, not only conveying neutral information but creating a basis authority. Addressing how the quantification of public opinion has affected contemporary politics and the democratic process, Herbst asks difficult but fundamental questions about the workings of American politics. "An original and thought-provoking analysis of why we have polls, what they accomplish, and how they affect the current political scene. Herbst's scholarship is impeccable, her writing is clear and crisp, and her findings are original. . . . Every reader will benefit by carefully weighing the issues she raises and the conclusions she draws."—Doris A. Graber, Political Science Quarterly "An intelligent, theoretically rich, and historically broad account of public opinion over several millennia. . . . The historical accounts are interesting and her interpretations are thought-provoking."—Paul Brace, Journal of American History
Author: Susan Herbst
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226327433
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244
Get Book Here
Book Description
Quantifying the American mood through opinion polls appears to be an unbiased means for finding out what people want. But in Numbered Voices, Susan Herbst demonstrates that the way public opinion is measured affects the use that voters, legislators, and journalists make of it. Exploring the history of public opinion in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, Herbst shows how numbers served both instrumental and symbolic functions, not only conveying neutral information but creating a basis authority. Addressing how the quantification of public opinion has affected contemporary politics and the democratic process, Herbst asks difficult but fundamental questions about the workings of American politics. "An original and thought-provoking analysis of why we have polls, what they accomplish, and how they affect the current political scene. Herbst's scholarship is impeccable, her writing is clear and crisp, and her findings are original. . . . Every reader will benefit by carefully weighing the issues she raises and the conclusions she draws."—Doris A. Graber, Political Science Quarterly "An intelligent, theoretically rich, and historically broad account of public opinion over several millennia. . . . The historical accounts are interesting and her interpretations are thought-provoking."—Paul Brace, Journal of American History
Author: John Gastil
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520223659
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276
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Book Description
"By Popular Demand tackles two important issues--increasing political participation and restoring trust in government--that are critical to the future of American democracy. John Gastil's careful research makes a solid contribution to the recent literature on the growing divide between the public, elections, and policy decisions. His solutions are worthy of our careful consideration."—Mark Baldassare, author of When Government Fails: The Orange County Bankruptcy (California 1998) and California in the New Millennium: The Changing Social and Political Landscape (California 2000). "In an era of political cynicism, a new movement of citizen empowerment is afoot. Encouraging active involvement through community dialogue and deliberation, advocates of strong democracy are designing innovative processes in which ordinary citizens can work through difficult public issues by constructive and respectful talk. John Gastil's new book By Popular Demand: Revitalizing Representative Democracy by Deliberative Elections is a new landmark work in the literature of politics and communication and should be read by everyone interested in the revitalization of democracy."—Stephen W. Littlejohn, President Public Dialogue Consortium "By Popular Demand is a persuasively argued account of the deficiencies of the U.S. electoral system. Gastil provides a wealth of insights into the frequent disconnect between politicians and their constituents. His solution for the ails of popular representation--including on voters' ballots the correspondence between legislators' positions and those of citizen panels--should provoke spirited debate among scholars, journalists, and policymakers alike."—Mark A. Smith, University of Washington John Gastil makes a compelling case for a more deliberative approach to electing officials in the United States. He understands the potential for public deliberation and the barriers to it. Anyone interested in improving the representativeness of the electoral process should take note of this book and its provocative proposal. As Gastil masterfully demonstrates, a deliberative citizenry provides both the knowledge and will required to legitimate democratic governance."—David Mathews, President, Kettering Foundation "Hallelujah for John Gastil! He's right on target that citizens must regain their place in our politics and public life. His call to create more places for citizens to talk deeply about their concerns and hopes is one we must all heed."—Richard C. Harwood, Founder and President of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation
Author: Jeffrey P. Mehltretter Drury
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1623491355
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 251
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Book Description
The role of public opinion in American democracy has been a central concern of scholars who frequently examine how public opinion influences policy makers and how politicians, especially presidents, try to shape public opinion. But in Speaking with the People’s Voice: How Presidents Invoke Public Opinion, Jeffrey P. Mehltretter Drury asks a different question that adds an important new dimension to the study of public opinion: How do presidents rhetorically use public opinion in their speeches? In a careful analysis supported by case studies and discrete examples, Drury develops the concept of “invoked public opinion” to study the modern presidents’ use of public opinion as a rhetorical resource. He defines the term as “the rhetorical representation of the beliefs and values of US citizens.” Speaking with the People’s Voice considers both the strategic and democratic value of invoked public opinion by analyzing how modern presidents argumentatively deploy references to the beliefs and values of US citizens as persuasive appeals as well as acts of political representation in their nationally televised speeches.
Author: Kirby Goidel
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807137847
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 157
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Book Description
The 2008 presidential election provided a "perfect storm" for pollsters. A significant portion of the population had exchanged their landlines for cellphones, which made them harder to survey. Additionally, a potential Bradley effect -- in which white voters misrepresent their intentions of voting for or against a black candidate -- skewed predictions, and aggressive voter registration and mobilization campaigns by Barack Obama combined to challenge conventional understandings about how to measure and report public preferences. In the wake of these significant changes, Political Polling in the Digital Age, edited by Kirby Goidel, offers timely and insightful interpretations of the impact these trends will have on polling. In this groundbreaking collection, contributors place recent developments in public-opinion polling into a broader historical context, examine how to construct accurate meanings from public-opinion surveys, and analyze the future of public-opinion polling. Notable contributors include Mark Blumenthal, editor and publisher of Pollster.com; Anna Greenberg, a leading Democratic pollster; and Scott Keeter, director of survey research for the Pew Research Center. In an era of increasingly personalized and interactive communications, accurate political polling is more difficult and also more important. Political Polling in the Digital Age presents fresh perspectives and relevant tactics that demystify the variable world of opinion taking.
Author: Mary Lee Smith
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135954674
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 308
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Book Description
The authors argue that the most influential and well-known educational policy programs in the past 30 years are not based on democratic consensus, but are instead formulated by the political community as symbolic efforts meant to generate personal partisan gain.
Author: Diane J. Heith
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804748490
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 220
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Book Description
Presidents spend millions of dollars on public opinion polling while in office. Critics often point to this polling as evidence that a permanent campaign has taken over the White House at the expense of traditional governance. But has presidential polling truly changed the shape of presidential leadership? Diane J. Heith examines the polling practices of six presidential administrationsthose of Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clintondissecting the poll apparatus of each period. She contends that while White House polls significantly influence presidential messages and responses to events, they do not impact presidential decisions to the extent that observers often claim. Heith concludes that polling, and thus the campaign environment, exists in tandem with long-established governing strategies.
Author: Kerstin Brückweh
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137284501
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 328
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Book Description
Explaining crime by reference to abnormalities of the brain is just one example of how the human and social sciences have influenced the approach to social problems in Western societies since 1880. Focusing on applications such as penal policy, therapy, and marketing, this volume examines how these sciences have become embedded in society.
Author: Amy Fried
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231108201
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 326
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Book Description
Ten years ago the Iran-Contra affair swept the headlines as the nation watched an indignant Lt. Col. Oliver North testify before a congressional committee. Although polls showed that most Americans were critical of North's actions and ambivalent toward the man himself, media coverage left the opposite impression, with its broadcasts of "Ollie-for-president" rallies and stories of congressional aides overwhelmed by a torrent of pro-North mail. In this book, public opinion is more than the sum of a pollster's tally; instead, Amy Fried defines it as a political tool, integral to the political process, where vested interests compete to legitimize their interpretation of the public voice. Fried explores the construction, interpretation, and uses of public opinion, raising important questions about the media and the role of special interest groups in determining policy.
Author: Jeff Manza
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190207523
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 376
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Book Description
5.4 million Americans--1 in every 40 voting age adults-- are denied the right to participate in democratic elections because of a past or current felony conviction. In several American states, 1 in 4 black men cannot vote due to a felony conviction. In a country that prides itself on universal suffrage, how did the United States come to deny a voice to such a large percentage of its citizenry? What are the consequences of large-scale disenfranchisement--both for election outcomes, and for public policy more generally? Locked Out exposes one of the most important, yet little known, threats to the health of American democracy today. It reveals the centrality of racial factors in the origins of these laws, and their impact on politics today. Marshalling the first real empirical evidence on the issue to make a case for reform, the authors' path-breaking analysis will inform all future policy and political debates on the laws governing the political rights of criminals.
Author: Gerard Hauser
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135633169
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 543
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Book Description
This collection presents theoretical, critical, applied, and pedagogical questions and cases of publics and public spheres, examining these contexts as sources and sites of civic engagement. Reflecting the current state of rhetorical theory and research, the contributions arise from the 2002 conference proceedings of the Rhetoric Society of America (RSA). The collected essays bring together rhetoricians of different intellectual stripes in a multi-traditional conversation about rhetoric's place in a democracy. In addition to the wide variety of topics presented at the RSA conference, the volume also includes the papers from the President's Panel, which addressed the rhetoric surrounding September 11, 2001, and its aftermath. Other topics include the rhetorics of cyberpolitical culture, race, citizenship, globalization, the environment, new media, public memory, and more. This volume makes a singular contribution toward improving the understanding of rhetoric's role in civic engagement and public discourse, and will serve scholars and students in rhetoric, political studies, and cultural studies.
