The Changing American Voter

The authors of this prize-winning and best-selling book on electoral behavior have brought their study up to date with a trenchant analysis of the 1976 presidential election. Once more by carefully analyzing national voting patterns, they give substantive meaning to statistics and figures. Professors Norman Nie, Sidney Verba, and John Petrocik show how the role of issues in 1976 voting seemed to be influenced by the political context of the campaign. In this respect the 1976 elections represented a reprise of earlier contests such as 1960. In other ways, such as the erosion of partisanship, 1976 resembled more recent elections. The authors use the 1976 election to test out their earlier analysis of the electorate. The American voter is not a “new” voter, this book shows, but a malleable one. The vote in 1976 illustrates the variable nature of mass behavior and attitudes.