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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Numbered Voices: How Opinion Polling Has Shaped American Politics

Numbered Voices: How Opinion Polling Has Shaped American Politics

Herbst, Susan

Paperback

Series: American Politics and Political Economy

General Political ScienceGeneral Sociology

ISBN10: 0226327434
ISBN13: 9780226327433
Publisher: Univ Of Chicago Pr
Published: Aug 15 1995
Pages: 235
Weight: 0.76
Height: 0.65 Width: 5.53 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
Quantifying the American mood through opinion polls appears to be an unbiased means for finding out what people want. But in Numbered Voices, Susan Herbst demonstrates that the way public opinion is measured affects the use that voters, legislators, and journalists make of it.

Exploring the history of public opinion in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, Herbst shows how numbers served both instrumental and symbolic functions, not only conveying neutral information but creating a basis authority. Addressing how the quantification of public opinion has affected contemporary politics and the democratic process, Herbst asks difficult but fundamental questions about the workings of American politics.

An original and thought-provoking analysis of why we have polls, what they accomplish, and how they affect the current political scene. Herbst's scholarship is impeccable, her writing is clear and crisp, and her findings are original. . . . Every reader will benefit by carefully weighing the issues she raises and the conclusions she draws.-Doris A. Graber, Political Science Quarterly

An intelligent, theoretically rich, and historically broad account of public opinion over several millennia. . . . The historical accounts are interesting and her interpretations are thought-provoking.-Paul Brace, Journal of American History

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