Two Majorities

John Anthony Maltese teaches in the Department of Political Scienceat the University of Georgia. His books include Spin Control: The White House Office of Communications and the Management of Presidential News.

Byron Shafer and William Claggett have given us an important book. While attending ably to their primary objective of advancing our understanding of the contemporary partisan realignment, the authors manage as well to contribute significantly to another subject of even greater scope. -- Everett Carll Ladd Public Opinion Quarterly The stated scholarly mission of the book is to tease out the structure of American political opinion in the late twentieth century: the central concerns of that opinion, their roots and the distribution of preferences on them, and the gathering and dividing of preferences in partisan ways. In addition, Shafer and Claggett consider the implications of an opinion structure for practical-and successful-politicking. -- Edward Sidlow Perspectives on Political Science Overall, The Two Majorities is an interesting and useful study of public opinion. It provides readers with a good picture of public opinion and it connects that picture with sound strategic advice for each party about what sort of issues to emphasize and to ignore. -- Eric R. A. N. Smith American Political Science Review

• List of FiguresList of TablesSeries Editor's ForewordPrefaceChapter 1. The Notion of an Issue Context: Public Wishes and the Two MajoritiesChapter 2. Dimensions of Political Opinion: "Great Issues" for the Modern EraChapter 3. A Structure for Political Opinion: Political Parties and Partisan PreferencesChapter 4. A Structure for Political Opinion: Social Groups and Group PreferencesChapter 5. A Framework for Politicking: Parties, Groups, and the Issue ContextChapter 6. The Shape of Policy Options: Activists, Followers, and Political PreferencesChapter 7. The Shape of Policy Options: The War inside the PartiesChapter 8. An Issue Context for Contemporary Politics: The Two Majorities and Partisan ConflictAppendix: Texts for Survey QuestionsNotesIndex