Voting, Campaigns, & Elections
Government 656.001
Fall 2008
Instructor: Sean A. Cain, PhD.
Email: cain@american.edu
Office Hours: Friday 10-12 or by appointment
Office: Ward 224
Class Meeting: Tu. 8:10 to 10:40 p.m. (Ward 304)
This course is designed to acquaint graduate students with the central themes and issues in the
study of voting in national elections. The grade will be based upon course participation, a takehome midterm exam, a take-home final exam, and a comparative campaign study. In the latter
assignment, you will choose two states holding Senate elections in 2008 and develop an
argument for why those states had similar or different senatorial and presidential election
outcomes. This assignment will test your ability to apply course content to a practical setting as
well as encourage you to immerse yourself in FEC data, legislative records, campaign
technology, and local political environments. Each component of the course will account for
10%, 30%, 30%, and 30% of your final grade, respectively.
Books
Berelson et al. Voting
Campbell et al. The American Voter
Zaller. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion
Holbrook. Do Campaigns Matter?
Popkin, Samuel. The Reasoning Voter
Rosenstone and Hansen. Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America
Corrado, et al. The New Campaign Finance Sourcebook
Assigned Readings (Note: This are subject to change, with advanced
notice.)
August 26 Introduction
Sept. 2 Voting 1
Berelson et al., Voting, Chapters 1, 6, 7, 11-14
Campbell et al., American Voter Chapters 1-4, 6-8, 19-20.
Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy, Chapters 1, 3, 11-13 (on library reserve)
Sept. 9 Voting 2
Riker and Ordeshook, A Theory of the Calculus of Voting
Popkin et al., What Have You Done for Me Lately?
Popkin, Reasoning Voter, Chapters 1-3;
Bartels, Partisanship and Voting Behavior
Fedderson, Rational Choice Theory and the Paradox of Not Voting
Sept. 16 Participation
Rosenstone and Hansen, Chapters 1-3, 5-7
Gerber et al., Voting May Be Habit-Forming
Green and Shachar, Habit Formation and Political Behaviour
McClurg, The Electoral Relevance of Political Talk
McDonald and Popkin, The myth of the vanishing voter
Quattrone and Tversky, Contrasting Rational and Psychological Analyses of Political Choice
Sept. 23 Belief Systems
Converse, Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics (1964)
Kinder, Belief Systems Today
Popkin, Factual Basis of "Belief Systems"
Lupia, Elitism and Voter Competence
Kuklinski, et al., Misinformation and the Currency of Democratic Citizenship
Conover and Feldman, The Origins and Meaning of Liberal/Conservative SelfIdentification
Sept. 30 Public Opinion
Zaller, The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, Chapters 1-6
Zaller and Feldman, Simple Theory of the Survey Response
Lacy, Nonseparable Preferences in Survey Responses
Lawrence and Bennett, Rethinking media politics and public opinion
Berinsky, Two Faces of Public Opinion
Oct. 7 Campaigns Effects 1
Zaller, Chapter 10
Holbrook, Do Campaigns Matter? Chapters 1-6
Burden, Senators as Presidential Candidates
Ansolabehere and Iyengar, Riding the Wave and Claiming Ownership over Issues
Vavreck, et al. The Effects of Retail Politics in the New Hampshire Primary
Oct. 14 Campaigns Effects 2
Sigelman and Kugler, Why is research on the effects of negative campaigning so inconclusive?
Ansolabehere, et al. Does Attack Advertising Demobilize the Electorate?
Clinton and Lapinski, 'Targeted' Advertising and Turnout"
Krasno and Green, Do Televised Presidential Ads Increase Voter Turnout?
Franz, Freedman, Goldstein, and Ridout, Understanding the Effect of Political Advertising on
Voter Turnout
Krasno and Green, Response to FFGR
Freedman et al., Campaign Advertising and Democratic Citizenship
Theilmann and Wilhite, Campaign Tactics and the Decision to Attack
Oct. 21 Workshop in Campaign Advertising (Midterm Due)
Oct. 28 Campaign Finance
Corrado, et al. The New Campaign Finance Sourcebook.
Jacobson, The Effects of Campaign Spending in Congressional Elections
Abramowitz, Incumbency, Campaign Spending, and the Decline of Competition in U.S. House
Elections
Box-Steffensmeier, A Dynamic Analysis of the Role of War Chests in Campaign Strategy
Nov. 4 Mass Media
Popkin, Reasoning Voter Chapters 4, 5
Miller and Krosnick, News Media Impact on Presidential Evaluations
Iyengar, et al. Experimental demonstrations of the ‘not-so-minimal’ consequences of television
newscasts
Baum and Kernell, Cable and presidential Television
Nov. 11 Issues and Trust
Bartels, “Class Politics and Partisan Change” and “Homer Gets a Tax Cut”
Aldrich et al., Foreign Affairs and Issue Voting
Mughan and Lacy, Economic Performance, Job Insecurity and Electoral Choice
Abramowitz and Segal, Beyond Willie Horton
Cook and Gronke, The Skeptical American
Hetherington, The effect of political trust
Nov. 18 Electoral Institutions
Wlezien and Erikson, The Timeline of Presidential Election Campaigns
Bartels, Candidate Choice and the Dynamics of the Presidential Nominating Process
Garand and Parent, Representation, Swing, and Bias in U.S. Presidential Elections
Gelman and King, Enhancing Democracy Through Legislative Redistricting
Hetherington, et al. The Redistricting Cycle and Strategic Candidate Decisions in U.S. House
Races
Dec. 2 Paper Workshop & Final Exam Review
Bibliography
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Epstein, David and Peter Zemsky. 1995. “Money Talks: Deterring Quality Challengers in Congressional
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Hetherington, Marc J.; Bruce Larson; and Suzanne Globetti. "The Redistricting Cycle and
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Lacy, Dean (2001). "A Theory of Nonseparable Preferences in Survey Responses." American
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Lawrence, R. G. and W. L. Bennett (2001). "Rethinking media politics and public opinion:
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Lupia, Arthur (2007). "How Elitism Undermines the Study of Voter Competence." Critical
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Presidential Evaluations: Politically Knowledgeable Citizens Are Guided by a Trusted
Source." American Journal of Political Science 44(2): 301-315.
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Journal of Politics 60(4): 1050-1062.
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New Hampshire Primary.” American Journal of Political Science. 46: 595-610.
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