1. The Micro Foundations of Macro Politics.
- Author
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Enns, Peter K.
- Subjects
- *
PRESIDENTS of the United States , *PUBLIC opinion , *ATTITUDE (Psychology) , *SOCIAL psychology ,UNITED States politics & government - Abstract
The --miracle of aggregation'' has become the key to understanding how an uninterested and uninformed electorate can produce systematic and responsive presidential approval. This paper, however, presents a set of theoretical considerations, which predict that not only do the least informed contribute to aggregate measures of presidential approval, but that the most and least informed update their attitudes in tandem. To test this hypothesis of uniform opinion change, I analyze subgroup and individual level presidential approval with quarterly, monthly, and daily data. The results suggest a reconsideration of how we think about public opinion in the United States. Although subtle differences exist across information groups, all segments of the public translate economic and political information into their presidential evaluations. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2007