David C. Barker is Professor of Government at American University and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Director of the Social and Economic Sciences Division at the National Science Foundation. He was previously Director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies (2017-2024) at American University, where he co-founded the Program on Legislative Negotiation and the inter-university New Perspectives in Studies of American Governance program. He is the author or coauthor of over 80 publications, including four books: Rushed to Judgment (2002), Representing Red and Blue (Oxford, 2012), One Nation, Two Realities (Oxford, 2019), and The Politics of Truth in Polarized America (Oxford, 2021).Andrew M.O. Ballard is Associate Professor of Political Science at Florida State University. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Duke University and previously was Assistant Professor of Government at American University. His research on lawmaking, the behavior of political parties in legislatures and elections, congressional communications, and public opinion have been published in the American Political Science Review, The Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and more.Christopher Jan Carman is the Stevenson Professor of Citizenship at the University of Glasgow, where he has served as Dean of the School of Social and Political Sciences and Head of Department of Politics and International Relations. As Stevenson Professor, he oversees the Stevenson Lecture series and programmes, which have been running for over 100 years. His research on political representation and participation, elections, and public opinion has been published in several books, including Representing Red and Blue (Oxford, 2012), More Scottish than British? The Scottish Parliament Elections of 2011 (2014), and The Referendum That Changed a Nation: Scottish Voting Behaviour 2014-2019 (2022), amongst others.

• PrefaceIntroduction: Aisle Crossers and Arm Crossers Section I: Ideas and ArgumentsChapter 2: The Wisdom that Precedes Us Chapter 3: Our Theory: Bridging, Battling, and Bargaining Section II: Setting the Analytical TableChapter 4: Giving to Get or Just Giving In? How Voters View CompromiseChapter 5: Reappraising What's Come Before Section III: Evaluating Our Theory: Citizens6: A Bird's Eye View of the Evidence7: Digging into the Explanatory Weeds8: The Electoral Connection Section IV: Evaluating Our Theory: Lawmakers Chapter 9: Capturing Compromise on Capitol HillChapter 10: The "Heart" of the Deal? Conclusion: Getting Where They're Coming From BibliographyIndex