A01=Stephen P. Nicholson
Accessibility
Affirmative action
Author_Stephen P. Nicholson
Ballot
Ballot measure
California ballot proposition
California Proposition 187
Campaign finance reform in the United States
Candidate
Category=JPHF
Chi-squared test
Constitutional amendment
Criticism
Democracy
Direct democracy
Election
Elections in the United States
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Estimation
Exit poll
Federal Election Commission
Foreign policy
Governor
Gun control
Ideology
Illegal immigration
Incumbent
Independent (voter)
Issue voting
Jesse Jackson Jr.
Legislation
Legislator
Legislature
Major party
Michael Huffington
Midterm election
Natural experiment
Newspaper
Party identification
Pete Wilson
Political campaign
Political climate
Political efficacy
Political party
Political philosophy
Political science
Politician
Politics
Politics of the United States
Popular referendum
Probability
Probit model
Public opinion
Public policy
Public sphere
Referendum
Representative democracy
Republican Party (United States)
Ronald Reagan
Spillover effect
State legislature (United States)
Statistical significance
Strong Democracy
Tax
Tax cut
Tax policy
The American Voter
United States House of Representatives
United States Senate
Voter turnout
Voting
Voting behavior
Wedge issue
Product details
- ISBN 9780691116846
- Weight: 425g
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 06 Mar 2005
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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How do voters make decisions in low-information elections? How distinctive are these voting decisions? Traditional approaches to the study of voting and elections often fail to address these questions by ignoring other elections taking place simultaneously. In this groundbreaking book, Stephen Nicholson shows how issue agendas shaped by state ballot propositions prime voting decisions for presidential, gubernatorial, Senate, House, and state legislative races. As a readily accessible source of information, the issues raised by ballot propositions may have a spillover effect on elections and ultimately define the meaning of myriad contests. Nicholson examines issues that appear on the ballot alongside candidates in the form of direct legislation. Found in all fifty states, but most abundant in those states that feature citizen-initiated ballot propositions, direct legislation represents a large and growing source of agenda issues.
Looking at direct legislation issues such as abortion, taxes, environmental regulation, the nuclear freeze, illegal immigration, and affirmative action, Nicholson finds that these topics shaped voters' choices of candidates even if the issues were not featured in a particular contest or were not relevant to the job responsibilities of a particular office. He concludes that the agendas established by ballot propositions have a far greater effect in priming voters than is commonly recognized, and indeed, that the strategic use of initiatives and referenda by political elites potentially thwarts the will of the people.
Stephen P. Nicholson is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University. His doctoral dissertation received the 1999 E. E. Schattschneider Award, presented annually by the American Political Science Association for the best dissertation in the field of American politics. Nicholson has published articles in the "American Journal of Political Science", the "Journal of Politics", the "British Journal of Political Science", and "Political Research Quarterly".
