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MASARYK UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND EUROPEAN STUDIES
Spring 2010
Syllabus for Comparative Mass Political Behavior ­ U.S.
David McCuan, Ph.D. Office Location: FSS 424
Email: david.mccuan@sonoma.edu Office Hours: Wednesdays,
Office Phone: +420-549-49-3881 9:45-10:45 am
Course Description & Purpose:
This course examines the impact of changing styles and techniques of political campaigning and
how these styles affect the electioneering and governing process focusing on US electoral
politics. Modern techniques of voter analysis and manipulation are discussed, along with the
characteristics and behavior of the electorate, and historical patterns of political participation.
We address such concerns as: formation of public opinion, voter turnout, candidate evaluation,
issue voting, and partisanship. This course provides both a solid grounding in the "classics" of
behavioral work and insight into current research in American mass electoral behavior.
Course Learning Objectives:
Course readings and discussion highlight the broad topic of voting behavior, the rise of distrust,
disinterest, and inefficacy; the formation of party attachments; political attitudes and
sophistication; ideology; the influence of the media; and the centrality of race and gender in
American electoral politics. As a result, we explore several questions in examining the behavior
of American citizens. Where do political beliefs and convictions come from? What are the
forces that influence a citizen's vote? What is the role of the mass media in American politics?
What is the role of race, and gender, in American participation patterns? This is a seminar
course with a considerable reading and discussion requirement. Students themselves will
be responsible for digesting a large literature and discussing its relevance and implications
for understanding mass political behavior. Some previous interest or knowledge of social
science research methods and/or campaigns and elections is helpful to do well in this class.
Required & Recommended Texts
To maintain lower costs for students, the Instructor will provide weekly readings available via
online sources from the electronic resources of Masaryk University & through the web. Most
of these documents will be in PDF or HTML format. Additional citations that are REQUIRED
reading are noted below in the course schedule.
Recommended Texts
1. Daily reading & access to one or more of the following: The New York Times, The
Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal
2. Flanigan, William and Nancy Zingale. 2006. 11th
Edition. Political Behavior of the American
Electorate. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
3. Herrnson, Paul. 2004. Fifth Edition. Congressional Elections: Campaigning At Home and In
Washington. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
4. Holbrook, Thomas. 1996. Do Campaigns Matter? Thousand Oaks: Sage Press.
5. McCuan, David and Steve Stambough (eds.). 2005. Initiative-Centered Politics: The New
Politics of Direct Democracy. Durham: Carolina Academic Press.
6. Niemi, Richard and Weisberg, Herbert (eds.). 2001. 4th
Edition. Controversies in Voting
Behavior. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
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Additional Recommended Texts
Campbell, Angus; Converse, Philip; Miller, Warren; Stokes, Donald. 1980; 1960. The American
Voter. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Downs, Anthony. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper
Collins.
Glynn, Carroll J., Susan Herbst, Garrett J. O'Keefe, and Robert Y. Shapiro. 1999. Public
Opinion. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Iyengar, Shanto and Ansolabehere, Stephen. 1995. Going Negative: How Attack
Ads Shrink and Polarize the Electorate. New York: Free Press.
Jacobson, Gary. 1997. The Politics of Congressional Elections. 4th Edition. New
York: Longman.
Nie, Norman; Verba, Sidney; Petrocik, John. 1976. The Changing American Voter.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Norrander, Barbara and Clyde Wilcox. 2002. 2nd
Edition. Understanding Public Opinion.
Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.
Popkin, Samuel. 1994. The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in
Presidential Campaigns. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Rinehart, Sue. 1992. Gender, Consciousness, and Politics. New York: Routledge.
Rosenstone, Steven and Hansen, John Mark. 1993. Mobilization, Participation, and
Democracy in America. New York: Macmillan.
Sabato, Larry. 1981. The Rise of Political Consultants: New Ways of Winning Elections. New
York: Basic Books.
Verba, Sidney and Norman Nie. 1972. Participation in America: Political Democracy and
Social Equality. New York: Harper & Row.
Zaller, John. 1992. Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Course Requirements:
Attendance and participation 25%
Midterm (In class, held first or second week of April 2010) 30%
Final Exam (To be announced in class several times) 45%
Assignment Notes:
A good portion of the course is in seminar format, so plan to attend each session and to have
read the assignment. Much of the reading is in the first half of the semester to provide the
necessary information for both the Midterm and Final Exams.
Course Outline:*This is a tentative schedule that is adapted as the semester progresses.
REQUIRED READINGS ARE IN BOLD PRINT. REC = Recommended readings.
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Course Schedule & Topics, Spring 2010
Session Topics Readings and Assignment
WEEK 1 Introduction & Overview of the Field: Voting Behavior,
Participation, & Elections as a Growth Industry in
Scholarship: What do we know? What do we not know?
Niemi & Weisberg, Part I
Holbrook, Chapters 1, 2
Flanigan & Zingale, Chapter 1
McCuan, Stambough, Chapter 1
REC: James Madison. 1787. The
Federalist, #10
WEEK 2 Foundations of Political Attitudes and Values
Introduction to Public Opinion & Ideology Constructs
Niemi & Weisberg, Part II
Holbrook, Chapter 1
Flanigan & Zingale, Chapter 1
Herrnson, Intro & Chapter 1
REC: Anthony Downs, An Economic
Theory of Democracy. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1957, pp. 21-35, 114-132.
REC: Donald Green and Ian Shapiro,
Pathologies of Rational Choice. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1994, pp
151-153.
WEEK 3 Participation, Efficacy, & the Polls Niemi & Weisberg, Part I, redux
Flanigan & Zingale, Chapters 2, 5
McCuan, Stambough, Chapter 3
REC: Section II, Campbell, et al., The
American Voter, 1960, 1980.
REC: Feldman, Stanley. 1988. "Structure
and Consistency in Public Opinion:
The Role of Core Beliefs and Values"
American Journal of Political Science
32:416-440
WEEK 4 Participation, Efficacy, & the Polls, cont'd
Politico-Socio-Psychological Determinants of the
Participation Equation
Herrnson, Chapter 7
Holbrook, Chapter 5
REC: Converse, Philip. 1964. " The Nature
of Belief Systems in Mass Publics" in
David Apter, ed. Ideology and Discontent.
New York: Free Press
REC: Rosenstone and Wolfinger. 1978.
"The Effect of Registration Laws on Voter
Turnout" American Political Science
Review 72 (March): 22-45.
WEEK 5
Partisanship, Non-partisanship, & Partisan Change:
Macro- and Micro-partisanship
Partisanship, Non-partisanship, & Partisan Change, cont'd
Gender Gap & Racial Influences on the Vote
Niemi & Weisberg, Part V
Flanigan & Zingale, Chapters 3, 4
REC: Wilma Rule, "Women's
Underrepresentation and Electoral
Systems," PS: Political Science and
Politics 27 (1994), pp. 689-692.
REC: Niemi, Richard and Jennings, M. Kent.
1991. "Issues and Inheritance in the
Formation of Party Identification" American
Journal of Political Science 35: 970-988.
REC: Franklin, Charles and Jackson, John.
1983. "The Dynamics of Party
Identification" American Political Science
Review 77: 957-973
WEEK 6 MIDTERM PREP REVIEW SHEET AVAILABLE
VIA MASARYK INFO SYSTEM
READING WEEK ­ CATCH UP ON ALL
READINGS TO DATE
WEEK 7 MIDTERM WEEK
WEEK 8 READING WEEK
READINGS ASSIGNED BY
INSTRUCTOR
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WEEK 9 Mass Media Effects, Mass Opinion, & Campaigns Flanigan & Zingale, Chapters 7
Herrnson, Chapter 8
McCuan, Stambough, Chapters 4, 7 ­ 11
REC: Iyengar, Shanto. 1989. "How
Citizens Think about National Issues"
American Journal of Political Science
33: 878-900.
REC: MacKuen, Michael. 1984. "Exposure
to Information, Belief Integration, and
Individual Responsiveness to Agenda
Change" American Political Science
Review 78: 372-391.
REC: Zaller, John. 1992. Nature and
Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. Chapters 8-9.
WEEK 10 Determinants of Vote Choice: Economics, Issues, &
Group Interests
Niemi & Weisberg, Part III
Flanigan & Zingale, Chapters 5, 6
REC: Aldrich, John; Sullivan, John;
Borgida, Eugene. 1989. "Foreign
Affairs and Issue Voting: Do
Presidential Candidates Waltz Before a
Blind Audience?" American Political
Science Review 83: 123-141
REC: Carmines, Edward and Stimson,
James. 1980. "The Two Faces of Issue
Voting" American Political Science
Review 74: 78-91.
REC: Fiorina, "Economic Retrospective
Voting in American National
Elections: a Micro-Analysis"
American Journal of Political Science
22: 426-443.
REC: Kinder, Donald R. D. Roderick
Kiewiet. 1981. ``Sociotropic Politics:
The American Case.'' British Journal
of Political Science 11:129-161.
REC: ``Dimensions of Sociotropic
Behavior: Group-Based Judgments of
Fairness and Well-Being.'' American
Journal of Political Science 41:284-
308.
WEEK 11
Determinants of Vote Choice: Candidate Evaluation Flanigan & Zingale, Chapter 8
Holbrook, Chapters 3, 6, 7
McCuan, Stambough, Chapter 2
REC: Marcus, George. 1988. "The
Structure of Emotional Response:
1984 Presidential Candidates"
American Political Science Review 82:
737-762.
REC: Miller, Arthur; Wattenberg, Martin;
Malachuk, Oksana. 1986. "Schematic
Assessments of Presidential
Candidates" American Political
Science Review 80: 521-540.
REC: Lodge, Milton and Steenbergen,
Marco. 1995. "The Responsive Voter"
American Political Science Review 89-
309-326
WEEK 12
The Micro Level: Voting in Congressional Elections
Campaign Finance Issues in Elections
Herrnson, Chapters 2-6, 9
Niemi & Weisberg, Part VI
McCuan, Stambough, Chapter 5
REC: Campbell, James. "The Presidential
Surge and its Midterm Decline in
Congressional Elections, 1868-1988." Journal
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of Politics 53: 477-487.
REC: Parker, Glenn. 1986. "Economic Partisan
Advantages in Congressional Contests: 1938-
1978." Public Opinion Quarterly 50:387-401.
REC: Kinder, Donald and Kiewiet, D.
Roderick. "Economic Discontent and Political
Behavior: The role of personal Grievances and
Collective Economic
Judgments in Congressional Voting." American
Journal of Political Science.
23: 495-527.
REC: Tufte, Edward. 1975. "Determinants of
the Outcomes of Midterm
Congressional Elections." American Political
Science Review 69; 812-826.
WEEK 13 Effects of Participation: Isolation, Distrust, &Alienation
FINAL EXAM PREP BEGINS
Niemi & Weisberg, Part IV
REC: Poole, Keith and Rosenthal, Howard.
1984. The Polarization of American
Politics." Journal of Politics 46: 1061-
1079.
REC: Brady, Verba, Schlozman 1995.
"Beyond SES: A Resource Model of
Political Participation" American
Political Science Review 89: 271-294.
REC: Stimson, Mackuen, Erikson. 1995.
"Dynamic Representation" American
Political Science Review 89: 543-565.
REC: Putnam, Robert. 1995. "Bowling Alone:
America's Declining Social Capital" Journal of
Democracy 6: 65-78.
WEEK 14 FINAL EXAM