Listening to the American voter: what was on voters' minds in presidential elections, 1960 to 2016

Introduction -- Long-term forces -- Short-term forces -- Measuring issues -- Images of the candidates -- The components of vote -- Ideology -- Polarization -- Conclusions -- Appendix A: My model equation and the components -- Appendix B: Calculating the amount of random response -- Appendix C: My method of measuring belief systems -- Appendix D: Demographic uniqueness of the ideological blocs.

"This book explains why elections from 1960 to 2016 came out the way they did. Why did voters choose one candidate over the other and what issues were they concerned with? The answer comes from talking to thousands of voters and analyzing their verbatim responses. Traditional methods used by most political analysts have often led to false interpretations and an empty conventional wisdom. Using a unique model and high quality survey data from the American National Election Studies, this book sheds original light on what voters think the most important problems are, what short-term forces may affect voting behavior, the role of ideology, and ultimately, the impact on democracy of not listening to what voters say. In addition, the author presents a new way to measure the ideological composition of the American electorate and considers whether the polarization of Congress represents a reflection of a polarized public"--