The People's Choice: How the Voter Makes Up His Mind in a Presidential Campaign

by Paul F. Lazarsfeld

The People’s Choice is a landmark psychological and statistical study of American voters during the 1940 and 1944 presidential elections, originally published in 1948. Amid a burgeoning interest in statistics and population sampling, it constituted the first systematic effort to trace voters’ behavior across the duration of a presidential campaign and to follow up on this data years later.

During the 1940 campaign, Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet tracked a sample population of six hundred people from Erie County, Ohio, interviewing them monthly in the seven months leading up to Election Day. Their subsequent study in 1944 expanded the sample to include a nationwide cross-section of two thousand voters. Contrary to the fears of the time, Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet found that media such as newspapers, radio, and campaign advertising did not have a profound influence on individual voting habits. Instead, interpersonal interactions and word of mouth were more significant for most voters. They argued that mass media reached a small but crucial subset of people, who then passed information on to less avid media consumers.

The study paired the same interviewers and interviewees over time, leading to remarkable extended conversations that feature more casual and exploratory discussions than were typical of social-scientific research. Quoted verbatim, they offer additional insight into the American electorate. A groundbreaking work of empirical political science, The People’s Choice remains of great importance in an era of anxiety about the influence of media on voting behavior.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Paul Feix Lazarsfeld was the founder of the Bureau for Applied Social Research at Columbia University and a highly influential American sociologist.

Reviews

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the very first classic books on voting behavior. Here, the focus is the 1940 presidential election in Erie County, Ohio. The work explores what factors shape vote choice.

A number of key concepts were developed, such as the two step flow of communication. The book examines other key issues such as social differences between Republicans and Democrats ideological differences between Rs and Ds, the role of media, effects of the campaign on vote choice, the effect of being cross-pressured on vote choice, and so on.

A lot of important ideas that were elaborated upon by later research. . . . A genuine classic in the field.

[Maryam Samiei · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب عالی ای بود. توی این کتاب لازارسفلد، برلسون و گودت به روش پانل سعی کردن نشون بدن که انتخابات سال 1940
و رقابت دو حزب دموکرات و جمهوری خواه در آمریکا چطور پیش میره. نتایج شون خیلی خیلی برام جالب بود. اول اینکه تبلیغات برخلاف تصور رایج مردم، روی کسانی تاثیر می گذاره که مرددند و مردمی رو جذب خودش می کنه که به محتوای اون و هدفش علاقه مندن. به عبارت دیگه مردم به طرف تبلیغاتی مایل می شن که گروهی که عضوش هستن از خانواده گرفته تا دوستان و خویشاوندان، پیرو اون محسوب می شن. مردم از ناهماهنگی شناختی فرار می کنن و ترجیح می دن حزبی رو انتخاب کنند که اعضای گروهی که توش هستن مایل به اون هستن.
نتیجه ی جالب دیگه ی تحقیق شون بحث رهبران فکری و اهمیت و رجحان رابطه ی مستقیم در برابر رسانه های جمعی بود

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readable, very straightforward research design and well-thought arguments. Although it targets a specific issue in Political Science is comprehensible and relatable to every reader. This style of writing and the beautifully simple yet all encompassing research design should serve as a guideline for contemporary scholars who like to overquantify their studies or aim at giving answers to questions not subject to being assessed properly in a quantative manner. Reading the classics is eye-opening!

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Love Big Brother. At least as much as Lazarsfeld. Ignore the facts, just sit back and admire the dull writing of a governmental bureaucrat. Any fact is irrelevant to this fairy tale. So are the people choosing the candidate? Of course not. Are the people selecting the candidates? Of course not. Are people voting for the president? Of course not. They are told they are. When in fact they are mere audience at some obscene geriatric wrestling match.

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for class, and it reads somewhat well, but it's still a research paper. The findings were interesting, but definitely not on the edge of my seat.

[Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The People's Choice" by Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet is an influential work that bridges the fields of social psychology and political science. This groundbreaking study, originally published in 1944, is an empirical study of every imaginable dynamic and determinant of voter behavior during the 1940 presidential election in the United States. The researchers employ innovative research methods, and introduce the concept of the two-step flow of communication, challenging the conventional wisdom that media directly shape public opinion. Instead, they argued that family, groups of which the voter is a member (religious, social, civic, etc.), opinion leaders and intermediaries played a crucial role in influencing voters.

As a theologian and researcher in religion, this book also holds relevance in understanding the intersection of religious beliefs and political choices, as it touches upon the impact of social networks and interpersonal communication on voter decision-making. The book's multidisciplinary approach aligns with my interests in theology, social psychology, and political science, shedding light on how individuals' religious convictions can be mediated through social interactions to inform their political preferences.

The book is a seminal work that continues to inform contemporary research in theology, religion, social psychology, and political science; all of the social science research into voter behavior over the intervening years has been both inspired and influenced by study published here . Its insights into the complexities of voter behavior and the role of interpersonal communication and group influence remain valuable for scholars across these fields.

[Didier "Dirac Ghost" Gaulin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lazarsfeld takes us back to 1940, during FDR campaign, in a small town of middle America, and provides us with one of the first modern study of voter's behavior. A charming and interesting read, finally putting the microscope on the voter himself/herself and what determines their choices. A must read for any political science major.