Chat With Us

Faculty Publication Highlights

Asymmetric Politics

by Dave Hopkins

Why do Republican politicians promise to rein in government, only to face repeated rebellions from Republican voters and media critics for betraying their principles? Why do Democratic politicians propose an array of different policies to match the diversity of their supporters, only to become mired in stark demographic divisions over issue priorities? In short, why do the two parties act so differently-whether in the electorate, on the campaign trail, or in public office?

Asymmetric Politics offers a comprehensive explanation: The Republican Party is the vehicle of an ideological movement while the Democratic Party is a coalition of social groups. Republican leaders prize conservatism and attract support by pledging loyalty to broad values. Democratic leaders instead seek concrete government action, appealing to voters' group identities and interests by endorsing specific policies.

This fresh and comprehensive investigation reveals how Democrats and Republicans think differently about politics, rely on distinct sources of information, argue past one another, and pursue divergent goals in government. It provides a rigorous new understanding of contemporary polarization and governing dysfunction while demonstrating how longstanding features of American politics and public policy reflect our asymmetric party system.

Book cover

Dave Hopkins
Assistant Professor, Political Science Department

View sample pages

Find this item

For further information about research in this area please visit the Subject Librarian portal.

Recent Highlights

The Art of Anatheism
Edited by Richard Kearney & Matthew Clemente

Grand Challenges for Social Work and Society
Edited by Rowena Fong & James Lubben & Richard Barth

The Technology Fallacy: How People Are the Real Key to Digital Transformation
by Gerald C. Kane & Anh Nguyen Phillips, Jonathan R. Copulsky, & Garth R. Andrus

Televising Restoration Spain
by Wan Sonya Tang

Various Articles
by Joseph F. Quinn, Ph.D

A Lily Blooms in Winter
by Alston Conley

The History and Philosophy of Science: A Reader
by Daniel McKaughan & Holly VandeWall

Holy Spirit: Setting the World on Fire
Co-Edited by Richard Lennan & Nancy Pineda-Madrid

Technology and Engagement: Making Technology Work for First-Generation College Students
by Heather T. Rowan-Kenyon & Ana M. Martínez Alemán & Mandy Savitz-Romer, PhD

Coercion: The Power to Hurt in International Politics
by Peter Krause & Timothy Crawford

Why You Eat What You Eat
by Rachel Herz

Listening to Early Modern Catholicism: Perspectives from Musicology
Edited by Michael Noone & Daniele V. Filippi

Nazi Law: From Nuremberg to Nuremberg
Edited by John J. Michalczyk

From Neither Here Not There
by Sammy Chong, S.J.