PLS 303
Elections & Voting Behavior
Roger C. Lowery, Ph.D.

Reading-assignment Reviews

Alan I. Abramowitz
The Polarized Public?
Why American Government
Is So Dysfunctional
 

• (1 & 2) The Polarized Public & The Racial Divide
   
• (3 & 4) The Ideological Divide & The Cultural Divide
   
• (5 & 6) The Geographic Divide & the Rise of the Tea Party Movement
   
• (7) Polarization Continues: 
       The 2012 Elections & Beyond

Morris P. Fiorina
Disconnect:
The Breakdown of Representation
in American Politics
 

• (1, 2 & 3) The Disconnect in Political Positions; Disconnects in Priorities, Certainty, and Style; & Popular Misconceptions of Polarization
   
• (4, 5, & 6) Institutional Contributors to the Disconnect; Social Change and Party Sorting; Suburbs, New Interest Groups, and Political   Adaptation
   
• (7 & 8) The Disconnect:  How Unusual?  How Bad?; Reconnecting the People and Their Government

Stephen J. Wayne
The Road to the White House
2012
 

• (1)  Presidential Selection:  An Historical Overview
  ◦  Proslavery Origins of Electoral College
   
• (2) Campaign Finance
  ◦  The misguided theories behind Citizens United v. FEC.
  ◦  Citizens United paved the way for the return of soft money
   
• (3) The Political Environment
   
• (7 & 8) Organization, Strategy, and Tactics; Media Politics
   
• (9 & 10) Understanding Presidential Elections; Reforming the Electoral System