Overview
What motivates citizens to support one party over the other? Do they carefully weigh all of the relevant issues and assess which party or candidate best matches their own positions? Or do people look at politics as something more akin to a team sport--the specifics do not matter as long as you know what side your team is on? Answering these questions requires us to think about how much the average American knows about politics. Many scholars of public opinion believe that the majority of Americans only pay passing attention to politics. Thus the electorate's apparent lack of political competence presents a direct challenge to normative theories of democracy. How are citizens supposed to exert control over the government if they have no idea what is going on? In Political Choice in a Polarized America, Joshua N. Zingher argues that these fears are overblown. Not only do individuals have core beliefs about what the government should or should not do, but individuals have become more likely to support the party that best matches their policy attitudes by both identifying as a member of that party and voting for that party in elections. However, as Zingher demonstrates, voters' ability to match their attitudes to a party or candidate varies according to signals sent by elites and increases as parties become more polarized.
Full Product Details
Author: Joshua N Zingher ,
Jonathan Sleep
Publisher: Kalorama
Imprint: Kalorama
ISBN: 9798212393874
Publication Date: 29 November 2022
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Audio
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Author Information
Joshua N. Zingher is an associate professor of political science and geography at Old Dominion University. He currently teaches classes on American politics, political behavior, and research methodology. His work has appeared in several scholarly journals, including the Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Party Politics, Electoral Studies, Political Behavior, and State Politics and Policy Quarterly. Starting out as a singer/songwriter, Jonathan Sleep's first foray behind the microphone was with a guitar in his hand, kicking around the Atlanta local music scene. After graduating from Georgia State University with a film degree, he went to work developing and creating shows for a TV production company in Atlanta. When the opportunity came to narrate Robert Bevan's LitRPG/fantasy/comedy series Critical Failures, he jumped in with both feet and hasn't looked back since. The ever-growing collection of novels and short stories regularly tops Audible's bestsellers in the Dark Humor and Fantasy categories. While continuing to narrate audiobooks, Jonathan is broadening his VO horizons as he ventures into video games, animation, and commercial projects as well.
