Competitive elections create a relationship of formal accountability between policy makers
and citizens. Recent theoretical work suggests that there are limits on how well this formal …

This article reviews recent research on how mass opinion affects policy making in the
context of US national institutions. Three themes materialize. First, research provides …

Are legislators responsive to the priorities of the public? Research demonstrates a strong
correspondence between the issues about which the public cares and the issues addressed …

As national political fights are waged at the state level, democracy itself pays the price Over
the past generation, the Democratic and Republican parties have each become nationally …

In Ideology and Congress, authors Poole and Rosenthal have analyzed over 13 million
individual roll call votes spanning the two centuries since Congress began recording votes …

By allowing voters to choose among candidates with competing policy orientations and by
providing incentives for incumbents to shape policy in the direction the public desires …

Morality is thought to underlie both ideological and punitive attitudes. In particular, moral
foundations research suggests that group-oriented moral concerns promote a conservative …

Who Leads Whom? is an ambitious study that addresses some of the most important
questions in contemporary American politics: Do presidents pander to public opinion by …

Governments in democratic systems are expected to respond to the issue preferences of
citizens. Yet we have a limited understanding of the factors that cause levels of …

As reactions to the OJ Simpson verdict, the Rodney King beating, and the Amadou Diallo
killing make clear, whites and African Americans in the United States inhabit two different …