© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The World Association for Public Opinion Research. All rights reserved.
Recent Books in the Field of Public Opinion Research
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Richard R. Lau and David P. Redlawsk (2006). How Voters Decide. Information Processing during Election Campaigns. New York: Cambridge University Press, 344 pp., ISBN 0-521-61306-X.
Richard Lau and David Redlawsk look at the process of voting decision making from an unconventional perspective. The existing voting behavior models are able to predict and explain with high accuracy which voters choose Democrats and which voters choose Republicans. These models take into account factors such as the amount of information gathered and processed before the decision is made, ideological affiliation, previous voting behavior, and motivation in relation to the perceived importance of the vote choice. Lau and Redlawsk focus on the processes by which voters make sense of the enormous flow of information in an election campaign. Based on that information citizens should decide on a vote choice that represents their own interests. The authors argue that the linkage between the vote and government accountability is important for a functioning democracy and that this requires that citizens should be able to vote ‘correctly’ (from the voter's own perspective).
Christopher Page (2006). The Roles of Public Opinion Research in Canadian Government. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 258 pp., ISBN 0-8020-9377-9.
Etsushi Tanifuji (2005). Gendai media to seiji: Gekijo shakai no ja-narizumu to seiji [Today's media and politics: Journalism and politics in the theatrical society]. Tokyo, Japan: Ichigei-sha, 245 pp., ISBN: 4-901253-61-1.
Martin P. Wattenberg (2007). Is Voting for Young People. New York: Pearson, 190 pp., ISBN 0-321-43569-9.
Günter Bentele, Lars Großkurth, and René Seidenglanz (2005). Profession Pressesprecher – Vermessung eines Berufsstandes [The Press Officer – A Survey of a Pro-fes-sion]. Berlin, Germany: Helios Media, 169 pp., ISBN 3-9810024-3-1.
Benjamin I. Page with Marshall M. Bouton (2006). The Foreign Policy Disconnect. What Americans Want from Our Leaders but Don't Get. Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press, 356 pp., ISBN 0-226-64462-6.
Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner (Eds.) (2006). Electoral Systems and Democracy. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press, 245 pp., ISBN 0-8018-8475-6.
Harukata Takenaka (2006). Shusho shihai: Nihon seiji no henbou [The Prime Minister's control: Changes in Japanese politics]. Tokyo, Japan: Chuko-shinsho, 289 pp., ISBN: 4-12-101845-1.
Lawrence D. Bobo and Mia Tuan (2006). Prejudice in Politics. Group Position, Public Opinion, and the Wisconsin Treaty Rights Dispute. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 276 pp., ISBN 0-674-01329-8.
Christina Holtz-Bacha (Ed.) (2006). Die Massenmedien im Wahlkampf. Die Bundestagswahl 2005 [The Mass Media and the German National Election 2005]. Wiesbaden, Germany: VS-Verlag, 360 pp., ISBN 3-531-15056-7.
Peter Hernon, Rowena Cullen, and Harold C. Relyea (Eds.) (2006). Comparative Perspectives on E-government. Serving Today and Building for Tomorrow. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 412 pp., ISBN 0-8108-5357-4.
Amitai Etzioni and Alyssa Bowditch (Eds.) (2006). Public Intellectuals. An Endangered Species? Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 273 pp., ISBN 0-7425-4255-6.