Polsby and Wildavskys classic text argues that the institutional rules of the presidential nomination and election processes, in combination with the behavior of the mass electorate, structure the strategic choices faced by politicians in powerful and foreseeable ways. We can make sense of the decisions made by differently situated political actorsincumbents, challengers, Democrats, Republicans, consultants, party official, activists, delegates, journalists, and votersby understanding the ways in which their world is organized by incentives, regulations, events, resources, customs, and opportunities.

Steven E. Schier is Dorothy H. and Edward C. Congdon Professor of Political Science at Carleton College. He is the author or editor of 13 books includingThe Trump Presidency: Outsider in the Oval Office (2017) andPolarized: The Rise of Ideology in American Politics (2015), both with R&L.

David A. Hopkins is associate professor of political science at Boston College. His research and teaching interests include American political parties and elections, the U.S. Congress, voting behavior, public opinion, and research methods. He is the author of Red Fighting Blue: How Geography and Electoral Rules Polarize American Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2017), andAsymmetric Politics: Ideological Republicans and Group Interest Democrats (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Nelson W. Polsby was Heller Professor of Political Science and past Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught American politics for forty years.

Aaron Wildavsky was Class of 1940 Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and founding dean of Berkeley's Graduate (now Goldman) School of Public Policy.

Tables, Figures, and Boxes
Preface

PART I. THE STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT

1. VOTERS
Why People Dont Vote
Why People Do Vote: A Theory of Social Connectedness
Party Identification as Social Identity
Parties as Aggregates of Loyal Voters
Ideologies, Issues, and National Conditions in the Minds of Voters
Changes in Party Identification: Social Habit versus Contemporary Evaluation
A Central Strategic Problem: The Attentiveness of Voters

2. GROUPS
The Presidential Vote as an Aggregation of Interest Groups
Variations among Interest Groups
Special Interests, Campaign Spending, and Public Interest Groups
Political Parties as Organizations
Third Parties

3. RULES AND RESOURCES
Rules: The Electoral College
Thinking About Resources
Resources: Money
The Beverly Hills Primary
Campaign Finance in Presidential Primaries
Raising and Spending Money in the General Election
Does Money Buy Elections?
Campaign Finance Reform
Resources: Control over Information
Newspapers
Television
Internet Media
Incumbency as a Resource: The Presidency
Incumbency as a Liability:The Vice Presidency
The Balance of Resources

PART II. SEQUENCES

4. THE NOMINATION PROCESS
Before the Voting Begins: The Invisible Primary
Iowa and New Hampshire: First in the Nation
1972
1976
1992
2004
2008
2012
2016
What Do These Historical Vignettes Teach?
State Primaries
State Caucuses
Delegate Allocation
Superdelegates
The National Party Conventions
Party Delegates at the Conventions
The Convention as Advertising
The Vice Presidential Nominee
The Future of National Conventions

5. THE CAMPAIGN
The Well-Traveled Candidates
Persuading Voters
Economic Policy and Performance
Foreign Policy and Performance
Social Issues and the Culture War
Presentation of Self
Negative Campaigning
Getting Good Press
Campaign Professionals
Policy Advisers
Polling
Focus Groups
Television Advertising
New Media
Televised Debates
Getting Out the Vote
Campaign Blunders
Forecasting the Outcome
Counting the Vote

PART III. ISSUES

6. APPRAISALS
Reform upon Reform
The Political Theory of Policy Government
Reform by Means of Participatory Democracy
Some Specific Reforms
The Nomination Process
The Decline of the National Convention
The Electoral College
Party Platforms and Party Differences

7. AMERICAN PARTIES AND DEMOCRACY
Elections and Public Policy
Parties of Advocacy versus Parties of Intermediation

APPENDIXES
A. Vote by Groups in Presidential Elections, 19842016
B. Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections, by Population Characteristics, 19842016
C. Selections from the Democratic and Republican Party Platforms, 2016

Notes
Index