Beyond the Electoral Connection

Beyond the Electoral Connection
Author :
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages : 144
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781512807509
ISBN-13 : 1512807508
Rating : 4/5 (09 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Beyond the Electoral Connection by : Kim Ezra Shienbaum

Download or read book Beyond the Electoral Connection written by Kim Ezra Shienbaum and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2016-11-11 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American voting behavior has long been paradoxical. Although levels of voter participation increase with age, income, and education, middle- and upper-class voters—those who profess to hold the electoral process in the highest regard—still tend to cast their ballots by "image" rather than issue. Beyond the Electoral Connection provides a comprehensive analysis and systematic explanation of this fundamental paradox. Kim Ezra Shienbaum's unusually broad perspective leads her to conclude that the nature of American democracy has been altered in fundamental ways over the past thirty years. She asserts that voters have rationally adjusted their political behavior to cope with a system in which public policy outcomes are determined largely by judicial and bureaucratic politics rather than through electoral politics. Shienbaum concludes that for the average "smart" voter, a trip to the polls is little more than an act of political ritualism: a demonstration of support for the status quo.


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