Dec
5
Dr. Robin Lauermann, professor of politics, edits this series
Welcome to the seventh season of our student blog series, From the Field! If you are new to this series, check out our introduction to the series Welcome and Introduction to From the Field.
Last spring, students in my Polling and Public Opinion course explored the social and psychological factors that shape people’s values, beliefs, attitudes and opinions – as well as how those elements shape people’s interactions with the political system. The idea of representative democracy is based on the idea that voters evaluate candidates based on issues and cast votes based on those differences in support of policy directions accordingly, and then hold officials accountable at the ballot box. Research shows that the public’s issue voting has increased in the last several elections due to the clarity of stances offered by polarized candidates.
Research such as my own and Stanford’s Morris Fiorina, however, suggests that feelings, rather than issues, have driven candidate evaluations and voting – and not in positive ways. Fiorina’s work indicates that polarized candidates do not represent the bulk of voters, who are predominantly center-left to center-right. Voters then react in the next election to policy overreach as leaders cater to their polarized bases. Moreover, the feelings factor in the last several election cycles has resulted more from negative reaction against the opposing candidate, rather than a strong vote in favor of the chosen candidates. The result is increasing public dissatisfaction. Scholars and practitioners have sought solutions to improve democracy through more effective input from citizens to their elected officials.
As a final experience for the course, students applied their knowledge to analyze an episode of The Gray Area, which featured an interview with Dr. Jane Mansbridge, who has authored numerous books on democracy, including Deliberative Systems: Deliberative Democracy at the Large Scale. In this approach, citizens gather for deeper discussions to learn more about issues, sharing their views and experiences. Through the process, they not only deepen their own understanding but also see how issues affect others in different ways. The result is a better sense of the problems we face and possible solutions that are more likely to address the issues and lessen the negative effects of policies.
The posts that follow share the excellent insights from our students in response.