Beyond the Electoral Connection

A Reassessment of the Role of Voting in Contemporary American Politics

Kim Ezra Shienbaum

• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press Anniversary Collection
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780812279160, 9780812279160
• eBook ISBN: 9781512807509
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Campaigns & Elections
• Index: Politics & International Relations

American voting behavior has long been paradoxical. Although levels of voter participation increase with age, income, and education, middle- and upper-class voters—those who profess to hold the electoral process in the highest regard—still tend to cast their ballots by "image" rather than issue. Beyond the Electoral Connection provides a comprehensive analysis and systematic explanation of this fundamental paradox. Kim Ezra Shienbaum's unusually broad perspective leads her to conclude that the nature of American democracy has been altered in fundamental ways over the past thirty years. She asserts that voters have rationally adjusted their political behavior to cope with a system in which public policy outcomes are determined largely by judicial and bureaucratic politics rather than through electoral politics. Shienbaum concludes that for the average "smart" voter, a trip to the polls is little more than an act of political ritualism: a demonstration of support for the status quo.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• 1. Who Votes and Why: A Critical Look at the Consensus and Revisionist Views
• 2. Voting as an Act of Political Ritualism
• 3. Extra-Electoral Participatory Activity
• 4. The Symbolism of Elections and the Ritualism of Voting
• 5. The Role of Elections in American Democracy
• Index