Recent national elections in Canada and the United States have been exciting, consequential contests. In the 2004 federal election in Canada, the Liberal Party narrowly clung to power after a volatile and bitter battle with the new Conservative Party. In 2006, the Conservative Party won a fragile victory, replacing the scandal-ridden Liberal government. In the 2000 American presidential election, Republican George W. Bush became the first candidate in over 100 years to capture the presidency without a majority popular vote. Four years later, Bush finally attained a narrow popular mandate but only after a hard fought campaign. Then, in 2006, the Republicans suffered a stunning reversal of political fortune, losing control of both Houses of Congress, as public opinion turned massively against the president.   

In Making Political Choices: Canada and the United States, Harold Clarke, Allan Kornberg, and Thomas Scotto employ a wealth of new survey data to describe these elections and evaluate competing theories of party support and voter turnout. While examining various arguments, the authors contend that a valence politics model provides a powerful explanation of voting behavior in Canada, the United States, and other mature democracies.   

Comments:

"How do people make political choices without being experts on policy? Clarke, Kornberg, and Scotto show that voters are 'smart enough to know that they are not smart enough.' Instead, they rely on trusted clues that will help them figure out which party can best handle the most important issues of the day. The fundamentals matter across time, country, and level of government, and in this book we see the patterns unfold clearly and with great interpretation." - Lynn Vavreck, University of California, Los Angeles

"A timely and important contribution to voting literature. Both Canadians and Americans will develop a better understanding of their neighbours' elections, but will also gain many new insights into the politics of their own country in the process." - Larry LeDuc, University of Toronto

Harold D. Clarke is the Ashbel Smith Professor of Political Science, University of Texas at Dallas, and Adjunct Professor of Government at the University of Essex. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including A Polity on the Edge: Canada and the Politics of Fragmentation with Alan Kornberg and Peter Wearing (Broadview Press, 2000) and Political Choice in Britain with David Sanders, Marianne C. Stewart, and Paul Whiteley (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Allan Kornberg is the Norb F. Schaefer Professor of Political Science at Duke University. He is the co-author, with Harold Clarke, of Citizens and Community: Political Support in a Representative Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 1992) and has written widely in books and journals on political parties, legislatures, and comparative political behavior. 

Thomas J. Scotto is Lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of Essex. His research interests are in American and Canadian electoral behavior and public opinion, and he has published articles in journals such as Electoral Studies and the Journal of Politics.

Table of Contents: [Back to Top]

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface

1. Political Choices and Valence Politics

2. Flawless Campaign, Fragile Victory: The 2006 Canadian Federal Election

3. Too Close to Call: The 2004 Canadian Federal Election

4. Red Voters, Blue Voters: The 2004 American Presidential Election

5. Doing Politics His Way: The 2000 American Presidential Election

6. A Big Blue Wave: The 2006 American Congressional Election

7. Mulroney, Reagan, and Three Big Elections

8. At the Polls? Why (Some) People Vote

9. Political Choices Reconsidered

References

Index by Name

Index by Subject

Reviews

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