Challenges the wisdom that citizens are 'manageable fools', with little capacity to exercise independent judgment in the voting booth. This book argues that voters are capable of playing an efficacious role in democratic politics and of demonstrating the ability to evaluate competing stewards in a discriminating manner.

Nardulli's analysis separates presidential elections into three categories: those that produce a major, enduring change in voting patterns, those that represent a short-term deviation from prevailing voting patterns, and those in which the dominant party receives a resounding endorsement from the electorate. These 'disequilibrating' elections have been routine in American electoral history, particularly after the adoption of the Progressive-Era reforms. "Popular Efficacy in the Democratic Era" provides a dramatically different picture of mass-elite linkages than most prior studies of American democracy, and an image of voters as being neither foolish nor manageable. Moreover, it shows why party elites must take proactive steps to provide for the core political desires of voters.

Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
ChAPTER ONE: Democracy, Popular Efficacy, and the Electoral Arena 1
ChAPTER TWO: Democratic Citizenship, Democratic Citizens, and Mass-Elite Linkages 18
CHAPTER THREE: Exogenous Events, Evaluations of Stewardship, and Citizens'Normal Voting Behavior 44
CHAPTER FOUR: Endogenous In .uences and the Evaluative Capacities of Democratic Citizens 75
CHAPTER FIVE: Conceptual and Methodological Foundations for a Reexamination of Popular Efficacy 96
CHAPTER SIX: The Roots of Partisanship: Party Elites, Exogenous Groups, and Electoral Bases 120
CHAPTER SEVEN: Partisan Realignments and Electoral Independence: The Incidence, Distribution, and Magnitude of Enduring Electoral Change 150
CHAPTER EIGHT: Electoral Perturbations and Electoral Independence: Stewardship, Partisanship, and Accountability 180
CHAPTER NINE: The Electoral Impact of Departures from Normal Voting Patterns: Electoral Jolts and the Aspirations of Political Elites 224
CHAPTER TEN: Popular Ef .cacy in the Democratic Era 245
Index 261