Conventional Wisdom and American Elections: Exploding Myths, Exploring Misconceptions

Over the past few decades, many students have developed misinformed opinions about the American electoral process, and Conventional Wisdom and American Elections was written to debunk some of the more common misunderstandings. This book's organization and structure complements courses on campaigns and elections, political parties, political participation, public opinion, the media, Congress, and the presidency. Topics include campaign finance, political participation and voting, the role of campaigns, Internet campaigning, negative campaigning, political parties, and the role the media plays in the electoral process. Each chapter is fairly short, yet the book offers comprehensive coverage of the subject matter. On one hand, it is written so that it is accessible to undergraduate students and contains a minimum of complex statistical analysis. On the other hand, connections to political science research and the role it plays in dispelling falsehoods about campaigns and elections are explicit throughout the text. Conventional Wisdom and American Elections is useful as a pedagogical tool to help "hook" students into thinking about elections, politics, and political science.