Voting: A Study of Opinion Formation in a Presidential Campaign

424 Pages·1954·19.673 MB·English

by  Bernard E. Berelson, Paul F. Lazarsfeld, William N. McPhee

VOTING
BERNARD R. BERELSON
- PAUL F. LAZARSFELD
and WILLIAM N. McPHEE
$8.50 ce
4th printing
Why do people vote the way they |
do? How is their vote affected by
social class, religious background, and
family loyalties? How much are they—
influenced by on-the-job relation-
ships, local pressure groups, and mass
media of communication? When do
they make up their minds? What
causes them to change? How do they
react to the subtle techniques of par-
tisan politics?
Voting provides answers to these and
a score of other questions—and the
answers are often surprising and al-
ways revealing. Voting is a report on
several studies of political behavior
made over the last fifteen years, and
a report in particular on the famous
Elmira Study, carried out by a team
of skilled social scientists during the
1948 presidential election.
Moving into the vicinity of Elmira, ; 3 ie
New York, well in advance of polling, < 4 *
the team set itself the ambitious task Ber,
of clarifying the complex relation- Oth bs Son .
ships existing between the candidate, iia.
the voter, and the many intermediate Vor ing
interests competing for the voter's ah
favor. When it was all over, the team 1
had rung thousands of doorbells, but-
tonholed, interviewed, and _ re-inter-
viewed more than a thousand people;
read, listened to, and analyzed a great
torrent of campaign literature.
A unique sort of history resulted. One
of America’s most startling election
(Continued on back flap)
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VOTING

VOTING
A Study of Opinion Formation in a Presidential Campaign
BERNARD R. BERELSON
PAUL F. LAZARSFELD
WILLIAM N. McPHEE
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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO & LONDON
324.92
SERELSON, ond ethan
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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 54-11205
Tue UNIvEeRSITY OF CutcAco Press, Cutcaco & LONDON
The University of Toronto Press, Toronto 5, Canada
Copyright 1954 by The University of Chicago. All rights
reserved, Published 1954. Fourth Impression 1963. Com-
posed and printed by Tue University or Cuicaco PREss
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
To RUTH
—B. R. B.