Challenging the conventional wisdom that Americans are less engaged than ever in national life and the democratic process, "Talking Together "paints the most comprehensive portrait available of public deliberation in the United States and explains why it is important to America's future.

The authors' original and extensive research reveals how, when, and why citizens talk to each other about the issues of the day. They find that--in settings ranging from one-on-one conversations to e-mail exchanges to larger and more formal gatherings--a surprising two-thirds of Americans regularly participate in public discussions about such pressing issues as the Iraq War, economic development, and race relations. Pinpointing the real benefits of public discourse while considering arguments that question its importance, "Talking Together" presents an authoritative and clear-eyed assessment of deliberation's function in American governance. In the process, it offers concrete recommendations for increasing the power of talk to foster political action.

Do politicians listen to the public? How often and when? Or are the views of the public manipulated or used strategically by political and economic elites? Navigating Public Opinion brings together leading scholars of American politics to assess and debate these questions. It describes how the relationship between opinion and policy has changed over time; how key political actors use public opinion to formulate domestic and foreign policy; and how new measurement techniques might improve our understanding of public opinion in contemporary polling and survey research.

The distinguished contributors shed new light on several long-standing controversies over policy responsiveness to public opinion. Featuring a new analysis by Robert Erikson, Michael MacKuen, and James Stimson that builds from their pathbreaking work on how public mood moves policy in a macro-model of policymaking, the volume also includes several critiques of this model by Lawrence Jacobs and Robert Shapiro, another critique by G. William Domhoff, and a rejoinder by Erikson and his coauthors. Other highlights include discussions of how political elites, including state-level policymakers, presidents, and makers of foreign policy, use (or shape) public opinion; and analyses of new methods for measuring public opinion such as survey-based experiments, probabilistic polling methods, non-survey-based measures of public opinion, and the potential and limitations of Internet polls and surveys. Introductory and concluding essays provide useful background context and offer an authoritative summary of what is known about how public opinion influences public policy.

A must-have for all students of American politics, public opinion, and polling, this state-of-the-art collection addresses issues that lie at the heart of democratic governance today.

Some media investigations sway public opinion and serve as the impetus for government reforms, while others, seemingly of equal importance, just die. This volume--the first systematic study of investigative reporting in the post-Watergate era--explores how and why this happens. Based on a decade-long program of research, highlighted by case studies of the life courses of six well-known media investigations and interviews with a national sample of over 800 investigative journalists, this book presents a new theory about the agenda-setting role of media in American society. Chapters examine the historical roots, contemporary nature, and societal impact of investigative journalism. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that depicts muckrakers and policymakers as antagonists, the authors show how investigative journalists often collaborate with officials to set the agenda for reform. The Journalism of Outrage breaks new ground in looking at this controversial form of journalism.

What is the state of the American welfare state? After half a century of growth and development, social welfare programs came under attack during the 1980s, generating widespread uncertainty about their future. Yet the welfare state weathered the assault. Cook and Barrett argue that social welfare in America is firmly rooted and that the American welfare state is here to stay. They attribute this to a strong reservoir of support on the part of both policymakers and the general public.

"Support for the American Welfare State" asks how much support there is, who is most supportive, and why there are differences in levels of support. The authors report the results of a survey of attitudes of both the general public and members of the U.S. House of Representatives about Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare, Medicaid, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Food Stamps, and Unemployment Compensation-seven of the largest programs in the American welfare state.