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The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns
The Reasoning Voter is an insider's look at campaigns, candidates, media, and voters that convincingly argues that voters make informed logical choices. Samuel L. Popkin analyzes three primary campaigns—Carter in 1976; Bush and Reagan in 1980; and Hart, Mondale, and Jackson in 1984—to arrive at a new model of the way voters sort through commercials and sound bites to choose a candidate. Drawing on insights from economics and cognitive psychology, he convincingly demonstrates that, as trivial as campaigns often appear, they provide voters with a surprising amount of information on a candidate's views and skills. For all their shortcomings, campaigns do matter.
"If you're preparing to run a presidential campaign, and only have time to read one book, make sure to read Sam Popkin's The Reasoning Voter . If you have time to read two books, read The Reasoning Voter twice."—James Carville, Senior Stategist, Clinton/Gore '92
"A fresh and subtle analysis of voter behavior."—Thomas Byrne Edsall, New York Review of Books
"Professor Popkin has brought V.O. Key's contention that voters are rational into the media age. This book is a useful rebuttal to the cynical view that politics is a wholly contrived business, in which unscrupulous operatives manipulate the emotions of distrustful but gullible citizens. The reality, he shows, is both more complex and more hopeful than that."—David S. Broder, The Washington Post
"If you're preparing to run a presidential campaign, and only have time to read one book, make sure to read Sam Popkin's The Reasoning Voter . If you have time to read two books, read The Reasoning Voter twice."—James Carville, Senior Stategist, Clinton/Gore '92
"A fresh and subtle analysis of voter behavior."—Thomas Byrne Edsall, New York Review of Books
"Professor Popkin has brought V.O. Key's contention that voters are rational into the media age. This book is a useful rebuttal to the cynical view that politics is a wholly contrived business, in which unscrupulous operatives manipulate the emotions of distrustful but gullible citizens. The reality, he shows, is both more complex and more hopeful than that."—David S. Broder, The Washington Post
332 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1991
About the author
Samuel L. Popkin
7 books7 followersFrom Wikipedia:
Samuel L. Popkin (born June 9, 1942) is a noted political scientist who teaches at the University of California, San Diego. He received his Ph.D. from M.I.T. in 1969. Popkin has played a role in the development of rational choice theory within political science. He is also noted for his work as a pollster. Popkin has published in unusually diverse areas. His most recent book is The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns; earlier he co-authored Issues and Strategies: The Computer Simulation of Presidential Campaigns; and he co-edited Chief of Staff: Twenty-Five Years of Managing the Presidency. He is equally well known for his work on peasant society, with particular reference to East and Southeast Asia, including The Rational Peasant: The Political Economy of Rural Society in Vietnam. Popkin has also been a consulting analyst in presidential campaigns, serving as consultant on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign on polling and strategy, to the CBS News election units from 1983 to 1990 on survey design and analysis, and more recently to the Gore campaign. He has also served as consultant to political parties in Canada and Europe and to the Departments of State and Defense. His current research focuses on presidential campaigns and the relationship of public opinion to foreign policy. He is married to Susan Shirk, Professor of Political Science at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego.
Samuel L. Popkin (born June 9, 1942) is a noted political scientist who teaches at the University of California, San Diego. He received his Ph.D. from M.I.T. in 1969. Popkin has played a role in the development of rational choice theory within political science. He is also noted for his work as a pollster. Popkin has published in unusually diverse areas. His most recent book is The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns; earlier he co-authored Issues and Strategies: The Computer Simulation of Presidential Campaigns; and he co-edited Chief of Staff: Twenty-Five Years of Managing the Presidency. He is equally well known for his work on peasant society, with particular reference to East and Southeast Asia, including The Rational Peasant: The Political Economy of Rural Society in Vietnam. Popkin has also been a consulting analyst in presidential campaigns, serving as consultant on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign on polling and strategy, to the CBS News election units from 1983 to 1990 on survey design and analysis, and more recently to the Gore campaign. He has also served as consultant to political parties in Canada and Europe and to the Departments of State and Defense. His current research focuses on presidential campaigns and the relationship of public opinion to foreign policy. He is married to Susan Shirk, Professor of Political Science at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego.
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July 28, 2024Recommended by Ben Wikler, Chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, in an interview on Ezra Klein’s podcast.
February 3, 2014
What an insightful and readable account of how presidential campaigns try to communicate with voters. Popkin is great at sensing which messages campaigns wish to send and which ones are actually being articulated. On the other side of the coin, he is great at articulating how voters actually process campaign information and use it to inform their decision-making processes.
The Reasoning Voter covers three presidential elections: 1976, 1980, and 1984, and examines both primaries and the general elections. Necessarily, it is gotten somewhat out of date, but there is still plenty of engaging material, and Popkin writes with an ease that is uncommon among political scientists.
One of the key messages of the book remains vital today: in the end, voters can't be expected to read every policy paper or be up to date on every important political issue. They are busy people with jobs and kids and have only so much time in the day, like all of us. Therefore, they employ "shortcuts" based on what they see transmitted about candidates in the media, and combine that with what they "know" from the past with more recent information into some kind of internal algorithm to decide which candidate will gain their support. Candidates that can express an image that makes voters believe that the candidate "has values similar to my own, or is otherwise like me in some fundamental way, or at least understands me" are likely to attract support.
In a sense, this is just another way to expressing the old "who would you rather have a beer with" concept. But as frustrating as it may be to policy wonks, this question seems like it will remain relevant for a long time to come.
The Reasoning Voter covers three presidential elections: 1976, 1980, and 1984, and examines both primaries and the general elections. Necessarily, it is gotten somewhat out of date, but there is still plenty of engaging material, and Popkin writes with an ease that is uncommon among political scientists.
One of the key messages of the book remains vital today: in the end, voters can't be expected to read every policy paper or be up to date on every important political issue. They are busy people with jobs and kids and have only so much time in the day, like all of us. Therefore, they employ "shortcuts" based on what they see transmitted about candidates in the media, and combine that with what they "know" from the past with more recent information into some kind of internal algorithm to decide which candidate will gain their support. Candidates that can express an image that makes voters believe that the candidate "has values similar to my own, or is otherwise like me in some fundamental way, or at least understands me" are likely to attract support.
In a sense, this is just another way to expressing the old "who would you rather have a beer with" concept. But as frustrating as it may be to policy wonks, this question seems like it will remain relevant for a long time to come.
December 22, 2007
A really good read. Prof. Popkin does an excellent job of analyzing the way political campaigns work and how voters use them to make their decisions. He also addresses a lot of complaints about modern political campaigns and suggests what reforms might help and which are based on incorrect understandings of the political process. It does feel somewhat dated, especially when it comes to the examples, but that's pretty inevitable since the book came out in 1994. Still, despite the age I think it is a worthwhile read for thinking about elections.
April 14, 2013
It was very interesting and really opened my eyes to the fact that most voters do not have time to look into each candidate but instead use shortcuts and quick pieces of information to make their decision.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews