Improving Public Opinion Surveys

"I highly recommend this volume for students of political behaviour as a contribution to the broad literature on political behaviour, as a source for contemporary avenues of behavioural research and survey methodology, and as an overview of the substantive changes to the ANES Time Series Study introduced in 2008."--Donald M. Gooch, Political Studies Review

John H. Aldrich is the Pfizer-Pratt University Professor of Political Science at Duke University. Kathleen M. McGraw is professor of political science at Ohio State University.

Part 1 The American National Election Studies: The "Gold Standard" for Survey Research 1.John H. Aldrich and Kathleen M. McGraw: Introduction to the Volume 3 2.Jon A. Krosnick and Arthur Lupia: The American National Election Studies and the Importance of New Ideas 9 Part 2 Individual Predispositions Introduction to Part 2 25 3.Adam J. Berinsky and Howard Lavine: Self-Monitoring and Political Attitudes 27 4.Julia Albarracin, Wei Wang, and Dolores Albarracin: Do Confident People Behave Differently? The Role of Defensive Confidence in Partisan Defection, Attention to Politics, and Political Participation 46 5.Shalom H. Schwartz: Basic Personal Values and Political Orientations 63 6.Steven Hitlin and Katherine W. O. Kramer: Value Constellations and American Political Life 83 7.Eric M. Uslaner: Generalized Trust Questions 101 Part 3 Political Orientations and the Media Introduction to Part 3 115 8.Joseph Gershtenson and Dennis L. Plane: An Alternative Measure of Political Trust: Reconciling Theory and Practice 117 9.Danielle Shani: Measuring Political Interest 137 10.Scott L. Althaus and David H. Tewksbury: Do We Still Need Media Use Measures at All? 158 11.Stephen Ansolabehere, Marc Meredith, and Erik Snowberg: Sociotropic Voting and the Media 175 Part 4 Perceptions of Political Institutions and Groups Introduction to Part 4 193 12.Eric A. Whitaker and John M. Fulwider: Perceptions of Similarity and Agreement in Partisan Groups 195 13.Charles M. Judd, Leaf Van Boven, Michaela Huber, and Ana P. Nunes: Measuring Everyday Perceptions of the Distribution of the American Electorate 220 14.Michael D. Martinez, Jason Gainous, and Stephen C. Craig: Measuring Ambivalence about Government 238 15.Kira Sanbonmatsu and Kathleen Dolan: Gender Stereotypes and Gender Preferences in American Politics 260 16.Stephen T. Mockabee, Kenneth D. Wald, and David C. Leege: In Search of a Religious Left: Reexamining Religiosity 278 Part 5 Political Issues Introduction to Part 5 301 17.L.J Zigerell and Heather Marie Rice: Intense Ambivalence: The New 2006 and 2008 ANES Abortion Attitude Measures 303 18.Ross L. Matsueda, Kevin Drakulich, John Hagan, Lauren K. Krivo, and Ruth D. Peterson: Crime, Perceived Criminal Injustice, and Electoral Politics 323 19.Ruben Durante and Louis Putterman: Attitudes toward the Progressivity of Taxes, Corporate Tax, and the Estate Tax 342 Part 6 Concluding Thoughts and Future Directions 20.Jon A. Krosnick and Arthur Lupia: How the ANES Used Online Commons Proposals and Pilot Study Reports to Develop Its 2008 Questionnaires 363 21.John H. Aldrich and Kathleen M. McGraw: Concluding Thoughts 380 List of Contributors 387