APS Book

FROM THE EDITOR'S OVERVIEW

THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK is to put together in one place articles that were written by America’s preeminent scholars of presidential elections and published in Political Science Quarterly analyzing the last ten presidential elections, 1980 to 2016. Each of these articles was commissioned by this editor to be written and published in the Spring PSQ that followed the fall election. The authors did not have the benefits or disadvantages of hindsight. Instead, the articles were based on large reservoirs of new data that these political scientists developed, analyzed, and reported. They are most definitely not opinion pieces.

The book should have many uses: First, a quarter of the U.S. population was born between 1982 and 2000, meaning a large portion of the population has no adult recollection of the earlier elections discussed in this book. Each article contains much data and insightful analysis of the election it covers and is a major, nonpartisan reference for that election if that is all that a reader needs. Second, all the articles together or some subsets can provide material for a masterful overarching analysis of a major period in American political history, either for use in research or in the classroom. Third, the book has also been published in a digital edition, which makes it possible to search through the whole book electronically. We hope that the option to choose between paperback and digital editions will make it possible for this critical analysis to reach a wider audience. Both editions display figures in color if provided by the author. Political Science Quarterly itself has, of course, been available in electronic form since 2001.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ten Presidential Elections: Overview
Demetrios James Caraley

The Brittle Mandate: Electoral Dealignment and the 1980 Presidential Election
Everett C. Ladd

On Mandates, Realignments, and the 1984 Presidential Election
Everett C. Ladd

The 1988 Elections: Continuation of the Post-New Deal System
Everett C. Ladd

The 1992 Vote for President Clinton: Another Brittle Mandate?
Everett C. Ladd

1996 Vote: The “No Majority” Realignment Continues
Everett C. Ladd

The 2000 Presidential Election: Why the Democrats Lost
Gerald M. Pomper

The 2000 Election and Why Americans Need a Constitutional Right to Vote for Presidential Electors
Demetrios James Caraley

The 2004 Presidential Election: The Emergence of a Permanent Majority?
Paul R. Abramson
John H. Aldrich
David W. Rohde

The 2008 Presidential and Congressional Elections: Anti-Bush Referendum and Prospects for the Democratic Majority
Gary C. Jacobson

How the Economy and Partisanship Shaped the 2012 Presidential and Congressional Elections
Gary C. Jacobson

The Triumph of Polarized Partisanship in 2016: Donald Trump’s Improbable Victory
Gary C. Jacobson

REQUIREMENTS FOR eBOOKS

You will need a computer installed with either Adobe Reader or Adobe Digital Editions.

Adobe Reader is free and available for download at: http://get.adobe.com/reader. You will be able to view, print, and search our eBook PDF file. Use the bookmarks tab to navigate between chapters in the eBook.

OR

Adobe Digital Editions is free and available for download at: http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions. You will also be able to view, print, and search our eBook PDF file. Adobe Digital Editions has an added feature that allows you to add your own bookmarks.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

No part of the electronic book may be copied, downloaded, stored, further transmitted, transferred, distributed, altered, or otherwise used, in any form or by any means, except one stored electronic and one paper copy solely for the personal, noncommercial use of the purchaser. Contact the Academy for further permissions regarding the use of this work.