Readings

Required Books

Buy at Amazon Asher, Herbert. Polling and the Public: What Every Citizen Should Know. 6th ed. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2004. ISBN: 9781568028330.

Buy at Amazon Berinsky, Adam. Silent Voices. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780691123783.

Buy at Amazon Fiorina, Morris. Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America. New York, NY: Longman, 2004. ISBN: 9780321317735.

Buy at Amazon Stimson, James A. Tides of Consent: How Public Opinion Shapes American Politics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780521601177.

Buy at Amazon Zaller, John. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780521407861.

Assigned Readings

WEEK # TOPICS READINGS
The Meaning and Measurement of Public Opinion
1 The Meaning of Public Opinion

Buy at Amazon Key, V.O. Public Opinion and American Democracy. New York, NY: Random House, 1961, pp. 3-18. ISBN: 9780394303222.

Buy at Amazon Herbst, Susan. Numbered Voices: How Public Opinion Polling Has Shaped American Politics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1993, introduction, chapter 3. ISBN: 9780226327426.

Blumer, Herbert. "Public Opinion and Public Opinion Polling." American Sociological Review 13, no. 5 (1948): 542-549.

Newcomb, Theodore M. "Public Opinion and Public Opinion Polling: Discussion." American Sociological Review 13, no. 5 (1948): 549-552.

Woodward, Julian. "Public Opinion and Public Opinion Polling: Discussion." American Sociological Review 13, no. 5 (1948): 552-554.

Converse, Philip E. "Changing Conceptions of Public Opinion in the Political Process." Public Opinion Quarterly 51 (1987): Supplement 12-24.

2 Measuring Public Opinion: Sampling and Collecting Data Buy at Amazon Asher, Herbert. Polling and the Public: What Every Citizen Should Know. 6th ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2004, chapters 4-5. ISBN: 9781568028330.
3 The Survey Interview and the Nature of the Survey Response

Zaller, John, and Stanley Feldman. "A Simple Theory of the Survey Response: Answering Questions versus Revealing Preferences." American Journal of Political Science 36, no. 3 (1992): 579-616.

Buy at Amazon Tourangeau, Roger, Lance J. Rips, and Kenneth Rasinski. The Psychology of Survey Response. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000, chapter 1. ISBN: 9780521572460.

Buy at Amazon Berinsky, Adam. Silent Voices: Public Opinion and Political Representation in America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005, introduction, chapter 1. ISBN: 9780691123783.

Democratic Competence
4 Political Knowledge, Sophistication, and Democratic Competence

Buy at Amazon Delli Carpini, Michael X., and Scott Keeter. What Americans Know About Politics and Why It Matters. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997, introduction, chapter 2. ISBN: 9780300072754.

Buy at Amazon Asher, Herbert. Polling and the Public: What Every Citizen Should Know. 6th ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2004, chapter 2. ISBN: 9781568028330.

Buy at Amazon Berinsky, Adam. Silent Voices: Public Opinion and Political Representation in America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005, chapter 2. ISBN: 9780691123783.

Buy at Amazon Zaller, John. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992, chapters 2, 3, and 6. ISBN: 9780521407861.

5 Ideology and the Organization of Opinion

Achen, Christopher H. "Mass Political Attitudes and the Survey Response." American Political Science Review 69 (1975): 1218-1231.

Buy at Amazon Converse, Philip E. "The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics." In Ideology and Discontent. Edited by David Apter. New York, NY: Free Press, 1964. ISBN: 9780029007600.

Buy at Amazon Kinder, Donald R. "Diversity and Complexity in American Public Opinion." In Political Science: The State of the Discipline. Edited by Ada Finifter. Washington, DC: APSA Press, 1983. ISBN: 9780915654581.

Buy at Amazon Zaller, John. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992, chapters 4-5. ISBN: 9780521407861.

Building from the Ground Up: Opinion Ingredients and the Foundations of Public Preferences
6 Self Interest (or Symbolic Politics)

Sears, David O., Richard R. Lau, Tom Tyler, and A. M. Allen Jr. "Self-Interest versus Symbolic Politics in Policy Attitudes and Presidential Voting." American Political Science Review 74 (1980): 670-684.

Green, Donald Philip, and Jonathan A. Cowden. "Who Protests: Self-Interest and White Opposition to Busing." The Journal of Politics 54 (1992): 471-496.

Cambell, Andrea. "Self-Interest, Social Security, and the Distinctive Participation Patterns of Senior Citizens." American Political Science Review 96 (2002): 565-574.

7 Groups in American Politics: Us and Them

Conover, Pamela J. "The Influence of Group Identifications on Political Perception and Evaluation." The Journal of Politics 46 (1984): 760-784.

Buy at Amazon Kinder, Donald R., and Lynn M. Sanders. Divided by Color: Racial Politics and Democratic Ideals. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1996, chapter 5. ISBN: 9780226435749.

Sniderman, Paul M., Thomas Piazza, Philip E. Tetlock, and A. Kendrick. "The New Racism." American Journal of Political Science 35 (1991): 423-447.

Berinsky, Adam, and Tali Mendelberg. "The Indirect Effects of Discredited Stereotypes: Social and Political Traits in Judgments of Jewish Leaders." American Journal of Political Science 49, no. 4 (2005): 845-864.

8 Core Values

Feldman, Stanley, and John Zaller. "The Political Culture of Ambivalence." American Journal of Political Science 36 (1992): 268-307.

Chong, Dennis. "How People Think, Reason, and Feel about Rights and Liberties." American Journal of Political Science 37 (1993): 867-99.

Buy at Amazon Fiorina, Morris. Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America. New York, NY: Longman, 2004. ISBN: 9780321317735.

Society and Politics
9 Framing, Priming, and Media Effects

Iyengar, Shanto, Mark Peters, and Donald R. Kinder. "Experimental demonstration of the not-so-minimal consequences of television news programs." American Political Science Review 76 (1982): 848-858.

Buy at Amazon Gilens, Martin. Why Americans Hate Welfare. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000, chapters 5 and 6. ISBN: 9780226293653.

Pollock III, Philip H. "Issues, Values, and Critical Moments: Did 'Magic' Johnson Transform Public Opinion on AIDS?" American Journal of Political Science 38, no. 2 (May 1994): 426-446.

Druckman, James. "The Implications of Framing Effects for Citizen Competence." Political Behavior 23 (2001): 225-256.

10 Collective Opinion and Representation

Buy at Amazon Stimson, James A. Tides of Consent: How Public Opinion Shapes American Politics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 1-82. ISBN: 9780521601177.

Bartels, Larry M. "Uninformed Votes: Information Effects in Presidential Elections." American Journal of Political Science 40 (1996): 194-230.

Public Opinion and Policy
11 Public Opinion and Public Policy

Page, Benjamin I., and Robert Y. Shapiro. "Effects of Public Opinion on Policy." American Political Science Review 77 (1983): 175-190.

Stimson James A., Michael B. MacKuen, and Robert S. Erikson. "Dynamic Representation." American Political Science Review 89 (1995): 543-565.

Bartels, Larry M. "Homer Gets a Tax Cut: Inequality and Public Policy in the Public Mind." Perspectives on Politics 3, no. 0101 (2005): 15-31.

Buy at Amazon Zaller, John. "Coming to Grips with V. O. Key's Concept of Latent Opinion." In Electoral Democracy. Edited by Michael MacKuen and George Rabinowitz. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780472068203.

12 Public Opinion and Foreign Policy

Mueller, John. "Trends in Popular Support for the Wars in Korea and Vietnam." American Political Science Review 65 (1971): 358-75.

Feaver, Peter D., Chris Gelpi, and Jason Reifler. "Success Matters: Casualty Sensitivity and the War in Iraq." International Security 30, no. 3 (Winter 2005-06): 7-46.

Berinsky, Adam, and James Druckman. "Public Opinion Research, Presidential Rhetoric, and Support for the Iraq War." Public Opinion Quarterly (2007). Forthcoming.

Berinsky, Adam. "Assuming the Costs of War: Events, Elites, and the American Public." Journal of Politics (2007). Forthcoming.

Kull, Steven, Clay Ramsey, and Evin Lewis. "Misperceptions, the Media, and the Iraq War." Political Science Quarterly 118, no. 4 (2003): 569-598.

Final Reflections
13 Conclusion - Public Opinion and American Democracy

Verba, Sidney. "The Citizen as Respondent: Sample Surveys and American Democracy." American Political Science Review 90 (1996): 1-7.

Berelson, Bernard. "Democratic Theory and Public Opinion." Public Opinion Quarterly 16, no. 3 (1950): 313-330.

Buy at Amazon Zaller, John. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992, chapter 12. ISBN: 9780521407861.

Buy at Amazon Berinsky, Adam. Silent Voices: Public Opinion and Political Representation in America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005, conclusion. ISBN: 9780691123783.