Navigating Public Opinion : Polls, Policy, and the Future of American Democracy

Do Politicians listen to the public? When? How often? Or are the views of the public manipulated or used strategically by elites? In this book, leading scholars of American politics assess and debate the impact of public opinion on policymaking. Central questions include the changing relationships between opinion and policy over time, how key actors use public opinion to formulate domestic and foreign policy, and how new measurement techniques might improve our understanding of the results of polls and survey research. These state-of-the-art essays address issues that lie at the heart of democratic governance today.