Public opinion polls are everywhere. Journalists report their results without hesitation, and
political activists of all kinds spend millions of dollars on them, fueling the widespread
assumption that elected officials" pander" to public opinion—that they tailor their policy
decisions to the results of polls. In this provocative and engagingly written book, the authors
argue that the reality is quite the opposite. In fact, when not facing election, contemporary
presidents and members of Congress routinely ignore the public's policy preferences and …