The Two Majorities: The Issue Context of Modern American Politics(Interpreting American Politics)

Why do Democratic political candidates avoid the one issue on which the general public is most in agreement with them? Why do Republicans consistently raise the one issue their advisors urge them to avoid? Why do voters so often exhibit patterns of policy preference vastly different from what analysts and strategists predict? And why do these same voters consistently cast ballots that ensure the continuation of "divided government?" This book attempts to resolve many of the seeming contradictions in the contemporary American political scene. Drawing on a large sample of all Americans conducted by the Gallup organization, it argues that the recent turbulence in American politics is in some ways superficial. Below the surface, it contends, the political preferences of the American people remain remarkably stable. The authors find that American public opinion is organized around two clusters of issues, both of which are favoured by a majority of voters: social welfare, social insurance and civil rights, which constitute an economic welfare factor (associated with Democrats); and cultural values, civil liberties and foreign relations, a cultural/national factor (associated with Republicans). They conclude that each party's best strategy for success is not to try to take popular positions on the whole range of issues, but to focus attention on the party's most successful cluster of issues. The failure of either party to do so explains why neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have so far been able to replace the recent period of political turmoil with a new period of political stability.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures List of Tables Series Editor's Foreword Preface Chapter 1. The Notion of an Issue Context: Public Wishes and the Two Majorities Chapter 2. Dimensions of Political Opinion: "Great Issues" for the Modern Era Chapter 3. A Structure for Political Opinion: Political Parties and Partisan Preferences Chapter 4. A Structure for Political Opinion: Social Groups and Group Preferences Chapter 5. A Framework for Politicking: Parties, Groups, and the Issue Context Chapter 6. The Shape of Policy Options: Activists, Followers, and Political Preferences Chapter 7. The Shape of Policy Options: The War inside the Parties Chapter 8. An Issue Context for Contemporary Politics: The Two Majorities and Partisan Conflict Appendix: Texts for Survey Questions Notes Index

About the Author :
John Anthony Maltese teaches in the Department of Political Scienceat the University of Georgia. His books include Spin Control: The White House Office of Communications and the Management of Presidential News.

Review :
Byron Shafer and William Claggett have given us an important book. While attending ably to their primary objective of advancing our understanding of the contemporary partisan realignment, the authors manage as well to contribute significantly to another subject of even greater scope. -- Everett Carll Ladd Public Opinion Quarterly The stated scholarly mission of the book is to tease out the structure of American political opinion in the late twentieth century: the central concerns of that opinion, their roots and the distribution of preferences on them, and the gathering and dividing of preferences in partisan ways. In addition, Shafer and Claggett consider the implications of an opinion structure for practical-and successful-politicking. -- Edward Sidlow Perspectives on Political Science Overall, The Two Majorities is an interesting and useful study of public opinion. It provides readers with a good picture of public opinion and it connects that picture with sound strategic advice for each party about what sort of issues to emphasize and to ignore. -- Eric R. A. N. Smith American Political Science Review