Politicians Don't Pander: Political Manipulation and the Loss of Democratic Responsiveness

by Lawrence R. Jacobs, Robert Y. Shapiro, Robert Shapiro

Book Overview

Public opinion polls are everywhere. Journalists report their results without hesitation, and political activists of all kinds spend millions of dollars on them, fueling the widespread assumption that elected officials "pander" to public opinion--that they tailor their policy decisions to the results of polls.

In this provocative and engagingly written book, the authors argue that the reality is quite the opposite. In fact, when not facing...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226389839
• ISBN13: 9780226389837
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Terrific: Explores Link Betwn Public Opinion & Politicians

This is a wide-ranging, theoretically rich and empirically focused look at whether politicians simply "follow" the polls or whether politicians use polls to help "sell" proposals to the public. The answer is both, of course, but Jacobs and Shapiro explain how and why public leaders develop their own policy views, and how the public's acceptance of those views shape how policies are ultimately formed. Politicians are "trustees" in the Burkean sense, but how they explain their actions have to be placed in a "delegate" framework. Their case study on health care policy is especially instructive. This book won the 2001 Goldsmith Book Prize, it should be read by serious students of the media and politics.