The Apartisan American

by Dalton, Russell J.

• ISBN13: 9781452216942
• ISBN10: 1452216940
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-02-15
• Publisher: Cq Pr

Summary

Party identification is often considered the most important concept in modern electoral research-yet Americans' party ties have eroded. Today, independents comprise the largest portion of voters, outnumbering either Democrats or Republicans. This provocative book sheds new light on the dealignment trend with the emergence of an independent voter Dalton is calling the Apartisan American. Utilizing 60 years of electoral surveys, Dalton's friendly and concise narrative shows students just who these apartisans are and how they're introducing new volatility into electoral politics, changing the calculus of electoral decision making, and altering the behavior of political parties. Dalton also shows the same dealignment trend happening in other established democracies. Understanding these apartisans is key to understanding the 2012 election as well as party and electoral politics into the future.

Author Biography

Russell J. Dalton is professor of political science at the University of California. Irvine and former director of the Center for the Study of Democracy. His research and teaching focuses on the changing nature of citizen polities in contemporary democracies. He has received a Fulbright Research Fellowship, a German Marshall Fund Fellowship. Barbra Streisand Center Fellowship, and POSCO Research Fellowship. He has recently served on the boards of the American National Election Study, the British Election Study, and the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems. Among his recent authored or edited books are Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior (2007). Citizens, Democracy and Markets around the Pacific Rim (2006), Citizen Politics, 4th edition (2006). Democratic Challenges. Democratic Choice: The Erosion of Political Support in Advanced Industrial Democracies (2004), Democracy Transformed. The Expansion of Citizen Access in Advanced Industrial Democracies (2003), and Parties without Partisons Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies (co-editor, 2001).

Table of Contents

Tables and Figures	p. xi
Preface	p. xiv
Author Biography	p. xvii
Introduction
The Apartisan American	p. 1
The Concept of Party Identification	p. 3
The Implications of Partisan Dealignment	p. 6
Plus ça Change, or Real Change?	p. 9
Partisan Dealignment
The Two Sides of the Dealignment Debate	p. 11
Two Views of Partisan Change	p. 12
How to Measure Partisanship	p. 14
The Growth of Independents	p. 17
A Closer Look at Independents	p. 21
Registering Their Independence	p. 24
We Are Not Alone	p. 27
A Changing Public	p. 29
Can Partisans Go to Heaven?	p. 31
Who Are the Independents?	p. 32
Growing Up Independent	p. 33
Cognitive Mobilization and Independents	p. 38
Attitudes and Nonpartisanship	p. 45
Conclusion	p. 48
Appendix: Multivariate Analysis	p. 50
COG-Partisans and Democratic Citizenship	p. 53
Encouraging Democratic Citizenship	p. 54
The Effects of Mobilization Patterns	p. 56
Political Information Seeking	p. 57
Political Knowledge	p. 58
Enlightened Citizenship	p. 59
Is It Just Politics?	p. 61
Conclusion	p. 63
Political Participation
Becoming Active in Politics	p. 65
Mobilization in Elections	p. 66
Voting	p. 69
Campaign Activity	p. 71
Participation beyond Elections	p. 73
Direct Action	p. 73
Protest Activity	p. 74
Internet Activism	p. 77
The Paths to Political Participation	p. 78
Electoral Politics
Images of Parties and the Party System	p. 83
The Salience of Political Parties	p. 84
Cognitive-Partisan Groups and Party Salience	p. 87
Party Likes and Dislikes	p. 89
A Closer Look at Party Polarization	p. 94
A Second Look at Polarization	p. 96
Variations in Party Affect	p. 98
Images of the Party System	p. 102
Making Candidate Choices	p. 105
Partisanship: The Baseline	p. 106
Candidate Awareness	p. 109
The Contents of Candidate Images	p. 112
From Candidate Images to Preferences	p. 117
Mobilization Patterns and Candidate Choice	p. 120
Conclusion	p. 122
Appendix: Predicting Candidate Preferences	p. 125
Switchers, Splitters, and Late Deciders	p. 129
Do Campaigns Matter?	p. 131
Swing Voters	p. 133
Another Close Look at Independents	p. 137
Third-Party Voting	p. 141
Split-Ticket Voting	p. 144
A Changeable Electorate	p. 149
The Comparative Perspective
Dealignment in Comparative Perspective	p. 151
The Strength of Party Ties	p. 153
Cognitive and Partisan Mobilization	p. 156
Describing Cog-Partisans	p. 158
Patterns of Political Action	p. 162
Electoral Behavior	p. 166
Cross-National Evidence of Dealignment	p. 172
Conclusion	p. 176
Appendix: National Trends in Party Identification	p. 177
Electoral Politics Past and Future	p. 180
The Evidence of Dealignment	p. 181
The Implications of Dealignment	p. 183
Electoral Politics	p. 184
Political Engagement	p. 186
Lessons for the Political Parties	p. 187
Dealignment and Democracy	p. 189
Endnotes	p. 192
Index	p. 211
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