Persuadable Voter Named Best Book in Political Psychology for 2008

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Todd Shields, right, receives his award in Toronto in September.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Persuadable Voter: Wedge Issues and Presidential Campaigns by political scientist Todd Shields has been chosen the winner of the 2009 Robert E. Lane Award for the best book published in political psychology in 2009, given by the political psychology section of the American Political Science Association. 

The award committee praised the book as providing “a crisp and compelling account of how attitudinal ambivalence influences the dynamics of American elections. It is innovative, insightful, and a pleasure to read.”

In Science, David A.M. Peterson reviewed the book as “path-breaking,” reminding readers that “overall, the outcome of elections and the face of politics hinge on the ability of parties, candidates, and voters to adapt to each other and to the changing nature of political appeals.”

Shields, political science professor in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas, and co-author D. Sunshine Hillygus of Duke University, dedicated the book to Diane Blair, whose legacy is honored through the Diane D. Blair Center for Southern Politics and Society in Fulbright College. Blair, former professor of political science at the university, was a mentor to Shields when he was an assistant professor, demonstrating to him the direct link between research and politics with her work during the 1996 presidential campaign.

“Elections are the primary mechanism by which citizens in a democracy express their wants and desires to their elected officials, and it is through political campaigns that this interaction is managed," Hillygus and Shields wrote.

Politicians and the public engage in a reciprocal relationship, according to Shields and Hillygus. Information about the voters shapes campaign messages, and those messages, in turn, influence the decisions voters make. This reciprocal relationship is dictated by the information each has about the other. To understand the health of the relationship between officials and the public, it is important to understand how information is gathered and delivered during election campaigns, to whom and to what end.

In researching The Persuadable Voter, Shields and Hillygus examined campaigns and candidates, primarily in the 2000 and 2004 elections. They drew on research in political psychology, political communication, voting behavior and candidate positions and used diverse data sources and methodological approaches.

The award honors the work of Robert E. Lane, the Eugene Meyer Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Yale University. Lane is a Fellow of the British Academy, a past president of the American Political Science Association and a past president of the International Society of Political Psychology.