| Popular Efficacy in the Democratic Era: A Reexamination of Electoral Accountability in the United States, 1828-2000 Subjects: Presidents -- United States -- Election -- History; Voting -- United States -- History; Political participation -- United States; Social classes -- United States; Democracy -- United States; Social scientists have long criticized American voters for being "unsophisticated" in the way they acquire and use political information. The low level of political sophistication leaves them vulnerable to manipulation by political "elites," whose sway over voters is deemed incontrovertible and often decisive. In this book, Peter Nardulli challenges the conventional wisdom that citizens are "manageable fools," with little capacity to exercise independent judgment in the voting booth. Rather, he argues, voters are eminently capable of playing an efficacious role in democratic politics and of routinely demonstrating the ability to evaluate competing stewards in a discriminating manner. Peter F. Nardulli is Professor of Political Science and head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the founding director of UIUC's Center for the Study of Democratic Governance. |