The advent of scientific PO polling gave democratic governance a new dimension; representatives could discern people's views on virtually any public issue. However, three important questions remain. Are people adequately informed to consider the complex problems of modern government? Do they answer honestly? Should representatives be bound by PO? It is argued that modern PO analysts tend to ignore these questions & instead focus on patterns of attitudes among various population subgroups. Before scientific polling became common, those who studied PO directed their efforts to the connection between behavioral manifestations of PO & the development of public policy. Much of the PO literature preceding scientific polling remains relevant & should not be ignored. Modified HA.
"In this 15th edition of Political Behavior of the American Electorate, noted authors Elizabeth Theiss-Morse and Michael Wagner again continue the tradition of Flanigan and Zingale, using American National Election Study data to provide a thorough analysis of the 2020 elections and of American political behavior more generally. The authors explore get-out-the-vote efforts and the reasons people voted the way they did, as well as the nature and impact of partisanship, issues, and news media coverage in 2020-all with an eye toward understanding the trends that led up to the historic results"--
The book, ATTITUDES TOWARD FOREIGN AFFAIRS AS A FUNCTION OF PERSONALITY by Bjorn Christiansen, which is translated from the Norwegian & reviewed, is distinctive in its exclusively psychol'al approach to understanding pol'al opinions. This contrasts with the usual socio-psychol'al approach of relating att's to soc characteristics of A's after which hyp's as to the underlying psychol'al factors are developed. Strictly psychol'al analyses are necessary to build a body of knowledge of variables operating in the same functional systems. In the theoretical section of the book res approaches which relate diff classes of psychol'al variables to att's toward foreign affairs (FA), (dependent variable) are examined while the results of empirical studies are reported in another section. A's were applicants to & students of military & naval academies in Norway. Attitudinal data were obtained by use of p & p items of hypothetical international situations & relationships among variables were examined by r techniques. From the empirical data support is obtained for several hyp's; (a) a low positive (statistically signif) relationship found between att's toward FA & generalized personality characteristics of inwardly & outwardly directed aggression as expressed in everyday interpersonal events; & a negative relationship existed between 'destructive tendencies in international att's' & the taking of responsibility for solving daily conflicts; (b) latent (unconscious) att's, particularly of oral aggression, influence FA att's through the mechanism of displacement; & (c) nationalistic att's of patriotism are positively related to aggressive international att's. However, international affairs att's were not found to be related to diff measures of insecurity & to knowledge of international affairs. The crudity of scoring procedures, esp of the Blacky Test, & inadequacies of r techniques leave considerable doubt as to the validity of the conclusions & to the specific org of pol'al opinions in personality. Though the hyp's tested derive from diff intellectual traditions they may not be as distinctly diff as first appears (the latency hypothesis can be viewed as a generalization from unconscious motives & perceptions). Moreover, the generalization hypothesis deals with low-level empirical relationships among cognitive structures while the latency hyp involves psychodynamic factors largely antecedent to international att's. The study thus would have benefited from a more intensive analysis of the hyp's & an attempt at greater theoretical integration. C. M. Coughenour.
Data from the 1987 General Social Survey are drawn on to explore the influence of health status on the political behavior of 268 US women ages 55+, compared to 174 men. Results indicate that health status has modest effects on both sexes. Better health directly affects greater political participation among older women, though it has only an indirect effect on older males' political activism. Electoral implications of these findings are discussed. 3 Tables, 2 Figures, 57 References. Adapted from the source document.
