The Two Majorities

The Issue Context of Modern American Politics
Erscheinungsjahr 1995
ISBN: 978-0-8018-5019-6
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 228 mm, Gewicht: 340 g

Reihe: Interpreting American Politics

Why do Democratic political candidates avoid the one issue on which the general public is most in agreement with them? Why do Republicans consistently raise the one issue their advisors urge them to avoid? Why do voters so often exhibit patterns of policy preference vastly different from what analysts and strategists predict? And why do these same voters consistently cast ballots that ensure the continuation of "divided government?"

In The Two Majorities Byron Shafer and William Claggett offer groundbreaking political analysis that resolves many of the seeming contradictions in the contemporary American political scene. Drawing on an unusually large sample of all Americans, taken by the Gallup organization, Shafer and Claggett argue that the recent turbulence in American politics is in some ways superficial. Below the surface, they contend, the political preferences of the American people remain remarkably stable.

Shafer and Claggett find that American public opinion is organized around two clusters of issues—both of which are favored by a majority if voters: social welfare, social insurance, and civil rights, which constitute an economic/welfare factor (associated with Democrats), and cultural values, civil liberties, and foreign relations, a cultural/national factor (associated with Republicans). Provocatively, the authors argue that each party's best strategy for success is not to try to take popular positions on the whole range of issues, but to focus attention on the party's most successful cluster of issues.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Shafer, Byron E

Claggett, William J M

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Studien zu einzelnen Ländern und Gebieten

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Figures
List of Tables
Series Editor's Foreword
Preface
Chapter 1. The Notion of an Issue Context: Public Wishes and the Two Majorities
Chapter 2. Dimensions of Political Opinion: "Great Issues" for the Modern Era
Chapter 3. A Structure for Political Opinion: Political Parties and Partisan Preferences
Chapter 4. A Structure for Political Opinion: Social Groups and Group Preferences
Chapter 5. A Framework for Politicking: Parties, Groups, and the Issue Context
Chapter 6. The Shape of Policy Options: Activists, Followers, and Political Preferences
Chapter 7. The Shape of Policy Options: The War inside the Parties
Chapter 8. An Issue Context for Contemporary Politics: The Two Majorities and Partisan Conflict
Appendix: Texts for Survey Questions
Notes
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Shafer, Byron E
Byron E. Shafer is Andrew W. Mellon Professor of American Government at Oxford University. He is the author of Quiet Revolution: The Struggle for the Democratic Party and the Shaping of Post-Reform Politics and Bifurcated Politics: Evolution and Reform in the National Party Convention.

Claggett, William J M
William J. M. Claggett is associate professor of political science at Florida State University.

Byron E. Shafer is Andrew W. Mellon Professor of American Government at Oxford University. He is the author of Quiet Revolution: The Struggle for the Democratic Party and the Shaping of Post-Reform Politics and Bifurcated Politics: Evolution and Reform in the National Party Convention. William J. M. Claggett is associate professor of politcal science at Florida State University.