A Citizen's Guide to U.S. Elections ─ Empowering Democracy in America

Political observers routinely lament that American democracy is broken, and many of them blame electoral malfunction. But is the system really broken? Panagopoulos and Weinschenk make the case that citizens are empowered to fix what’s wrong with electoral politics and renew democracy in America, all within the institutional setup and framework of the existing system. Put simply, much of what is broken can be fixed if people stop throwing up their arms and start rolling up their sleeves to do the hard work of building our democracy. This book provides an overview of the basic features that characterize contemporary elections in the United States and includes discussions about voter participation and decision-making patterns, money in elections, and the role of parties and the media in presidential, congressional and state and local races. It also outlines some of the most important trends and challenges in the current system. As a call to action, each chapter features potential solutions to the challenges that exist in U.S. elections.

Costas Panagopoulos is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Electoral Politics and Democracy and the graduate program in Elections and Campaign Management at Fordham University. A leading expert on campaigns and elections, voting behavior, media and public opinion, political psychology and campaign finance, Professor Panagopoulos has co-authored or edited several books, includingPoliticking Online: The Transformation of Election Campaigns Communications (Rutgers University Press) and Public Financing in American Elections (Temple University Press). He has published over 60 scholarly articles in outlets including theAmerican Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly, Political Behavior, Political Psychology and Political Analysis. He has also served as Editor-in-Chief ofCampaigns & Elections magazine, as Senior Editor of the Journal of Political Marketing, and as part of the NBC News Decision Desk team since the 2006 election cycle. In 1992, while an undergraduate at Harvard University, Professor Panagopoulos was a candidate for the Massachusetts State Legislature.

Aaron C. Weinschenk is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin—Green Bay, where he teaches classes on American government and politics, Congress, public policy, urban politics, and statistics. He is an expert on voting behavior, campaigns and elections, mayoral politics, public opinion, and political psychology, and has published over a dozen journal articles in outlets such asPolitical Research Quarterly, Political Behavior, American Politics Research, State and Local Government Review, Electoral Studies,and Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties.