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THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES ELITE RESPONSIVENESS TO THE COALITION PREFERENCES OF THE MASS PUBLIC IN THE GERMAN FEDERAL REPUBLIC DURING THE 1961-1976 PERIOD. THE COALITION PREFERENCES OF THE GERMAN PUBLIC ARE SHOWN TO HEAVILY FAVOR THE PARTY COALITIONS FORMED BY PARTY ELITES. THE CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP IS STUDIED IN TERMS OF DIRECTION OF INFLUENCE.

Franklin Roosevelt's popular appeal is traced to his actions as commander-in-chief, a shorthand for his handling of foreign policy. Helmut Norpoth has mined a treasure trove of polls conducted during the 1930's and 1940's that probed public opinion about Franklin Roosevelt, foreign and domestic politics, along with party loyalties and electoral choices.

"Donald Trump's consistently and historically low approval ratings have provoked much discussion about why the US electorate finds him so polarizing. Moreover, his tenure lays bare the deep divisions in public opinion on federal policy. In striking contrast sits Franklin Roosevelt, the first president to be covered by public opinion polls. Roosevelt's average approval ratings surpassed those of every subsequent sitting president (with the exception of John Kennedy) and increased with time, a very rare achievement. Even US involvement in war did nothing to diminish his popularity. In fact, as this book argues, FDR's wartime policy and the broad public support for it was decisive in his third term run and win - even more important than the passage of the New Deal. As such, the FDR experience defied major paradigms of presidential politics. Yet Roosevelt has been ignored relatively by scholars of public opinion. What can FDR's experience teach us and his successors about rousing broad public support, particularly during wartime? What light does his success shed on the failures of Presidents Truman, Johnson, and George W. Bush in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq? On key issues, mainly with foreign policy but also domestic, FDR had to contend with an American public that opposed his plans at the outset. Helmut Norpoth argues that Roosevelt had an unparalleled ability for leadership that enabled him to move the public to embrace his policies. In this book he takes an in-depth look at how FDR's leadership swayed public opinion, comparing his experience to his successors and select foreign leaders, including Churchill, to draw broad conclusions about what makes for successful presidential politics"--

ABSTRACTMilitary service in World War II produced a generation of Democrats. This finding results from an examination of Gallup polls (1945–1953) that probed both party identification and wartime service. The 1944 election afforded soldiers an opportunity to vote for their commander in chief, and they did so by a large margin for Franklin D. Roosevelt—a Democrat. A vote under these circumstances is bound to leave lifelong marks on a cohort in its impressionable years, which was the life stage of many World War II soldiers. Further tests rule out the possibility that the Democratic tendency of soldiers was simply the result of their youthful age, lower socioeconomic status, urban background, union membership, race, or Southern region—all of which predict partisanship. Neither did the return to civilian life erode the Democratic edge of veterans. GI Joe is an unsung hero of what is widely known as the New Deal realignment.

ABSTRACTBy a measure of religious affiliation used by Gallup polls for nearly a century, the denomination with the largest following in the United States has always turned out to be "None," ahead of Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, or any other faith. The existence of such a large flock without religious affiliation might be expected for a country with a Constitution guaranteeing freedom of and from religion. The secular portion of the American electorate has always been big enough to wield, potentially at least, political clout. Its partisan attachments have consistently favored the Democratic over the Republican side. What is limiting the electoral clout of the "Nones" today is that nearly half of them profess no partisan affiliation. They are Independents in matters of both church and state.

ABSTRACTIn 1932, the American electorate was surveyed in a poll that has languished in the archives. The survey was conducted by Houser Associates, a pioneer in market research. It interviewed face-to-face a representative cross section about voter choices and issue attitudes. Although conducted on behalf of the Hoover campaign, the poll was not biased in his favor. The most striking revelation is that the electoral sway of the Depression was quite limited. The government wasnotseen by most voters as the major culprit or as having been ineffective in alleviating it. Even many FDR voters agreed. Moreover, there was no widespread "doom and gloom" about the future. What loomed larger in 1932 was the issue of Prohibition. The American people overwhelmingly favored repeal. The Democratic stand on it—that is, outright repeal—was a sure electoral winner, given Hoover's staunch defense of Prohibition.