James A. Stimson. Tides of Consent: How Public Opinion Shapes American Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2004. 206 pp. $55.00 (cloth); $16.99 (paper).

In Tides of Consent: How Public Opinion Shapes American Politics James Stimson attempts to explain to a politically interested but not necessarily expert audience how public opinion affects American politics. The result is an impressive success. In some ways Tides of Consent is like a compilation of “Stimson’s Greatest Hits.” It is not that material is in any way repeated, but rather that many of the primary arguments and findings from his previous work are brought together here in an examination of public opinion as a whole. The bottom line of this book is that public opinion, specifically, public opinion change, is the most important factor in American politics. Political conflicts and strategies are dictated in good measure by its shapes and contours. Political elites (at least astute ones) are attentive of it and responsive to it. Policy formation is dependent on it, and policy outputs are ultimately reflective of it. In short, Stimson argues that public opinion drives American politics, and that political change is the result of shifts in public opinion.