Reading public opinion

Public opinion is one of the most elusive and complex concepts in democratic theory, and we do not fully understand its role in the political process. Herbst draws on ideas from political science, sociology, and psychology to explore how three sets of political participants--legislative staffers, political activists, and journalists--actually evaluate and assess public opinion. She concludes that many political actors reject "the voice of the people" as uninformed and nebulous, relying instead on interest groups and the media for representations of public opinion. Her important and original book forces us to rethink our assumptions about the meaning and place of public opinion in the realm of contemporary democratic politics.