Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 302
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9½
978-1-5381-2526-7 • Hardback • June 2019 • $99.00 • (£76.00)
978-1-5381-2527-4 • Paperback • June 2019 • $35.00 • (£30.00)
978-1-5381-2528-1 • eBook • June 2019 • $33.00 • (£25.00)
Larry J. Sabato is the Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia and director of its Center for Politics. He is the author or editor of more than twenty books on American politics and elections.
Kyle Kondik is managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, the University of Virginia Center for Politics’ nonpartisan newsletter on American campaigns and elections. He is the author of The Bellwether: Why Ohio Picks the President (2016).
1. The Blue Wave: Trump at Midterm, Larry J. Sabato
2. The Trump Effect: The 2018 Midterm Election as a Referendum on a Polarizing President, Alan I. Abramowitz
3. The Primaries of 2018: Democrats Shine in the Era of Trump, Rhodes Cook
4. Humpty-Dumpty’s Fall: How Trump’s Winning Presidential Coalition Broke Down in 2018, David Byler
5. The House: Where the BlueWave Hit the Hardest, Kyle Kondik
6. How Republicans Picked up Senate Seats during a Blue Wave, James Hohmann
7. The Governors: Democratic Wave Falls Short of a Wipeout, Madelaine Pisani
8. The Money Wars: Emerging Campaign Finance Trends and Their Impact on 2018 and Beyond, Michael E. Toner and Karen E. Trainer
9. Women Rule: 2018 Midterms Bring Surge of Women to Congress, Emily C. Singer
10. Hindsight in 2020: Black Voting Behavior and the Next Presidential Election, Theodore R. Johnson
11. The Brown Tide and the Blue Wave in 2018, Matt Barreto,
Gary Segura, and Albert Morales
12. Presidential Media and the Midterm Elections, Diana Owen
13. Foresight in 2020: New Features of the Democratic Delegate Selection Rules, Joshua T. Putnam
14. Was 2018 a Wave Election? Sean Trende
Index
About the Contributors
It is unusual for a collection of academic essays to flow as though written by a single author or pair of authors. The Blue Wave, edited by Larry Sabato and Kyle Kondik, does so. Any political scientist prepping courses on elections for next year, media pundits wanting to sound more knowledgeable, or political consultants seeking to give clients good advice must read this book. Its initial chapters provide an excellent, detailed retelling of the 2018 election. It moves on to “slice and dice” the role of different demographic constituencies in the outcome of the election. Lastly, the book does two things. First, it sets up how, if what was observed as widespread group behavior continues through 2020, the 2020 presidential election may be impacted. Second, it defines a wave election while simultaneously determining whether the 2018 election was a wave. Wave or not, the 2018 election was certainly significant, and Sabato and Kondik have assembled knowledgeable experts who write well and detail the election in a compelling way.
Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.
— Choice Reviews
Praise for Larry Sabato’s Barack Obama and the New America (2012)
This book will serve as an excellent introduction to the science of politics as well as an update for experts in the field. Highly recommended.” — CHOICE
. . . . [An] impressively informative book. The essays are clear and well written, and though the focus runs toward trends and demographics rather than policy, the collection paints a cogent if predictable picture of the election. — Publishers Weekly
Looking beyond the headlines of political reporting on what many view as a very long and drawn-out presidential race, political scholar Sabato offers broader and deeper analysis through 12 contributors, journalists, analysts, and academics. Contributors, including Nate Cohn of the New Republic, Robert Costa of National Review, a former chairman of the Federal Elections Commission, and the publisher of Congressional Quarterly, offer keen analysis on a wide range of topics from voting patterns to press coverage to the impact of outside funding. — Booklist
Just about every aspect of the last election is analyzed....The essays are compelling and most are buttressed by invaluable data.— Voice of Reason (Previous Edition Praise)
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1/16/2020 - Choice Magazine named this title as one if its Editors' Picks for January of 2020. Link: http://www.choice360.org/blog/editors-picks-for-january-2020- Comprehensive review of congressional and gubernatorial 2018 elections
- Chapters focusing on black, Latino, and women voters
- Analyzes the role of media coverage of Trump and the election
- Previews the coming 2020 election cycle
Contributions by Alan I. Abramowitz, Matt Barreto, David Byler, Rhodes Cook, James Hohmann, Theodore Johnson, Kyle Kondik, Albert Morales, Diana Owen, Madelaine Pisani, Joshua T. Putnam, Larry Sabato, Gary Segura, Emily C. Singer, Sean Trende, Michael Toner, and Karen Trainer.