Benjamin Ginsberg

Elections and Public Policy

In the absence of historical opinion survey data, studies of the linkage between popular voting and American public policy have been confined to relatively recent time periods. Questions about these linkages, however, necessarily have a temporal dimension—what is the relationship between voting and policy over time? This paper establishes criteria for citizen policy choice that do not depend on opinion surveys. Data drawn from national party platforms and U.S. statutes, and aggregate voting data are compared to determine the extent to which majority choices are translated into national policy over time. Analysis of these data suggests that whether or not voters are completely aware of all of the implications of their actions, over time, popular majorities appear to govern.

The Fatal Embrace: Jews and the State.

Preface 1: The Jews: Social Marginality and the Fatal Embrace of the State 2: Jews, State Building, and Anti-Semitism in Nineteenth-Century America 3: Jews and the American Liberal State: From New Deal to New Politics 4: Blacks and Jews: Anti-Semitism and Interdependence 5: The Rise and Fall of the Republican-Jewish Alliance 6: Another Fatal Embrace? Notes Index