While the model of deliberative democracy gives a crucial role to dialog, empirical evidence has not yet established if discussion helps to reach a better understanding of political issues and, above all, if individuals are prepared to change their views. It is still unclear when the deliberative model, and more specifically discussion, could be…

Converse's black-and-white model of attitude stability, in which there are some stable opinion holders and a group of nonopinion respondents whose positions vary over time, is supported. Relationships of education and political involvement to opinion holding suggest that respondents hold stable opinions on issues that are most important to them.…

An investigation of a proposed public transit was based on the assumptions that knowledge of school tax referenda should provide a framework for understanding voter behavior in other types of referenda, and that propositions generated in one type of research should hold up in another. It was anticipated that there would be spillover effects from…