Winner of the 2009 Robert E. Lane Award for the Best Book in Political Psychology in 2008, Political Psychology Section of the American Political Science Association "[P]ath-breaking... The authors' novel approach to identifying both persuadable voters and effective micro-targeting techniques provides the most powerful evidence for their argument. The Persuadable Voter reminds us that, overall, the outcome of elections and ... Read morethe 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."
David A. M. Peterson, Science "In their outstanding study, Hillygus and Shields take what appears to be a singular topic
how wedge issues affect presidential campaigns
and fully develop a theoretical and empirical analysis of presidential campaigns, voting behavior, electoral strategies, and message framing... This work alone should expand the field of research on campaigns, elections, and voter behavior to new areas."
J. Michael Bitzer, Choice "The Persuadable Voter is clearly a well researched book, with sound arguments and complex methodologies to back these arguments up."
Mark Rice, In-Spire, Journal of Law, Politics and Societies "Written in an accessible style, The Persuadable Voter is an engaging reading, especially distinguishing itself in clarity and the high currency of the themes examined. It is certain to benefit the general public as well as a specialized audience, political and social scientists, journalists and politicians alike."
Adriana-Cecilia Neagu, ABC Journal "The Persuadable Voter should prove a cornerstone of contemporary scholarship about campaigns. The theory of wedge politics is compelling no matter how difficult it may be to encourage partisans to defect in today's polarized politics. Hillygus and Shields have established cross-pressures as a crucial factor that moderates the effects of campaigns, and their empirical findings constitute striking evidence of such effects. Finally, the book itself is a model for how to present statistical analysis clearly, to mingle social science with lively anecdotes, and to challenge lazy conventional wisdom in provocative ways. It deserves to be read by academics and political practitioners alike."
John Sides, Public Opinion Quarterly "Buell and Sigelman provide a crucial foundation for future work, as it is rich description of the type presented in this book that allows scholars to derive more general hypotheses."
Yanna Krupnikov, Perspectives on Politics Show Less