POSC 225 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: User Interface, Msnbc, Free Content
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3, useful overview of key course concepts and how they explain politicians behavior: central question: why do politicians pander? b. i. Pandering = too responsive to will of the people b. i. 1. Policymaking driven by public opinion rather than principle b. i. 1. a. To the extent that politicians do pander, it"s because b. ii. 1. Americans prefer a combination of delegate and trustee policymaking b. ii. 1. a. i. A delegate who acts on principle but b. ii. 1. a. i. 1. Those principles had better comply with the principles of his or her constituents: but medvic argues that politicians are not guilty of excessive pandering c. i. Instead, their views are already in line with those of engaged citizens regular voters who tend to be very partisan. Chapter 4; two key questions: are politicians too preoccupied with winning elections? a. i. We do not want politicians to constantly think about elections but we make them endure elections constantly a. i. 1. a. Elections are frequent, long, expensive, emotionally draining: are today"s politicians excessively partisan? b. i.