Study Questions on Voting

  1. What is the main point of each author's article?
  2. To what research tradition does each author's theory belong?
  3. What are the assumptions of each theory?
  4. What is the phenomenon that each author is trying to explain?
  5. How does each author explain that phenomenon?
  6. What evidence does each author use?
  7. What are the strengths of each theory?
  8. What are the weaknesses of each theory?
  9. What are the causal mechanisms?
  10. In other words, why do people vote at all?
  11. In other words, how do people decide to vote for?
  12. How is each theory progressive or not?
  13. How would one test which theory is right?
  14. What are the normative implications of each theory; that is, what does this mean for American democracy?

Things to look for/keep in mind for future/past readings:

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