The Apartisan American: Dealignment and the Transformation of Electoral Politics

Party identification is often considered the most important concept in modern electoral research--yet Americans′ party ties have eroded. Today, independents comprise the largest portion of voters, outnumbering either Democrats or Republicans. This provocative book sheds new light on the dealignment trend with the emergence of an independent voter Dalton is calling the Apartisan American. Utilizing 60 years of electoral surveys, Dalton′s friendly and concise narrative shows students just who these apartisans are and how they′re introducing new volatility into electoral politics, changing the calculus of electoral decision making, and altering the behavior of political parties. Dalton also shows the same dealignment trend happening in other established democracies. Understanding these apartisans is key to understanding the 2012 election as well as party and electoral politics into the future.

Author: Russell J. Dalton
Publisher: CQ Press
Published: 02/22/2012
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781452216942

About the Author
Russell Dalton is professor of political science at University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on the changing nature of citizen politics in advanced industrial societies and how theses changes are transforming contemporary democratic politics. He has written extensively on the political beliefs of Western publics and the linkage between these beliefs and on-going changes in citizen behavior, partisan politics, and policy outcomes. His recent work concerns the growing impact of the environmental movement on the political systems of Western democracies. He is also one of the leading American experts on German politics, especially public opinion in the postwar era. He has published three books recently with Oxford University Press which include Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices: The Erosion of Political Support in Advanced Industrial Democracies (2004), Democracy Transformed? The Expansion of Citizen Access in Advanced Industrial Democracies (co-editor; 2003), and Parties without Partisans: Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies (co-editor, 2001). He is the author of our Citizen Politics, 4^th edition, and is coauthor on a bestselling intro to comparative politics text with Longman.