The Oxford Handbook of American Elections and Political Behavior

1144 Pages·2012·5.13 MB·English

by  Jan E. Leighley

THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF
AMERICAN ELECTIONS AND POLITICAL
BEHAVIOR
THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF
AMERICAN POLITICS

GENERAL EDITOR: GEORGE C. EDWARDS III
The Oxford Handbooks of American Politics is a set of reference books offering
authoritative and engaging critical overviews of the state of scholarship on
American politics.
Each volume focuses on a particular aspect of the field. The project is under
the General Editorship of George C. Edwards III, and distinguished specialists in
their respective fields edit each volume. The Handbooks aim not just to report on
the discipline, but also to shape it as scholars critically assess the current state of
scholarship on a topic and propose directions in which it needs to move. The
series is an indispensable reference for anyone working in American politics.
THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF
AMERICAN ELECTIONS AND
POLITICAL BEHAVIOR

Edited by
JAN E. LEIGHLEY
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
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© The several contributors 2010
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First published 2010
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009938801
Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
Printed in Great Britain
on acid-free paper by
CPI Antony Rowe
ISBN 978–0–19–923547–6
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
CONTENTS

List of Figures

List of Tables

Abbreviations

About the Contributors

PART I INTRODUCTION

1. Introduction
JAN E. LEIGHLEY
PART II RESEARCH DESIGN

2. The State of Survey Research as a Research Tool in American Politics
LONNA RAE ATKESON
3. Optimizing Survey Questionnaire Design in Political Science: Insights
from Psychology
JOSH PASEK AND JON A. KROSNICK
4. Laboratory Experiments in American Political Behavior
KIM L. FRIDKIN AND PATRICK J. KENNEY
5. Field Experiments and the Study of Political Behavior
TIFFANY C. DAVENPORT, ALAN S. GERBER, AND DONALD P. GREEN
6. Formal Modeling, Strategic Behavior, and the Study of American
Elections
JOHN H. ALDRICH AND ARTHUR LUPIA
PART III PARTICIPATION

7. Why is American Turnout So Low, and Why Should We Care?
MICHAEL D. MARTINEZ
8. American Voter Turnout in Historical Perspective
MICHAEL P. MCDONALD
9. Expanding the Possibilities: Reconceptualizing Political Participation as
a Toolbox
FREDRICK HARRIS AND DANIEL GILLION
10. Voter Registration: Turnout, Representation, and Reform
ROBERT D. BROWN
11. Early, Absentee, and Mail-In Voting
ROBERT M. STEIN AND GREG VONNAHME
12. Digital Democracy: How Politics Online is Changing Electoral
Participation
KAREN MOSSBERGER AND CAROLINE J. TOLBERT
13. Voting Technology
R. MICHAEL ALVAREZ AND THAD E. HALL
PART IV VOTE CHOICE

14. The Study of Electoral Behavior
LARRY M. BARTELS
15. The American Voter
WILLIAM G. JACOBY