Candidates and Voters extends our understanding of voting, elections, and representation by elaborating a simple theory of voting choice based on voters' interest in policy and in the suitability of candidates to hold elective office ('leadership valence'). Voters' choices must be understood in the context of the choices between opposing candidates they are offered on these two dimensions. Drawing on extensive analysis of US House races, Stone shows that although voters lack the information that many analysts assume they need to function in a democracy, they are most often able to choose the better candidate on the policy and valence dimensions. In addition, candidates, when they decide whether and how to run, anticipate the interests that drive voters. The book shows that elections tend to produce outcomes on policy and leadership valence consistent with voters' interests, and challenges skeptical views of how well the electoral process works.

'Stone's original, elegant, parsimonious, and carefully integrated analysis of congressional elections and representation is a major contribution to our understanding of how American democracy actually works. It is the work of an astute and deeply informed scholar at the top of his game.'

Gary Jacobson - Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of California, San Diego

'This is a deeply creative and illuminating work. Stone takes two exhaustively documented, almost banal regularities, and by formalizing them as decision rules, systematically draws out and empirically tests their implications. The result is a theory of elections that brings out the interdependence of how voters choose between the alternatives on offer and how, understanding this, candidates present themselves to voters and thereby constrain the alternatives on offer. This is a model of how to imaginatively re-conceptualize previous research to make original discoveries of the first importance.'

Paul Sniderman - Stanford University, California

'In this book, Walter J. Stone provides a perspective on American elections has been sorely lacking in the vast political science literature on voting behavior. He demonstrates that even in our polarized era, candidates matter. Just as importantly, he demonstrates that character as well as ideology matters. This is a book that will change the way we think about voting behavior and representation.'

Alan Abramowitz - Alben Barkley Professor of Political Science, Emory University, Atlanta

'An important and convincing challenge to the view that voters are incapable of rational decision making. Utilizing an innovative and unique survey of both voters and informants at the congressional district level, which allows him to independently establish both challenger and incumbent ideology and valence, Stone shows that given the choices with they are presented, individual voters and the aggregate of voters at the district level do select the candidate more reflective of their ideology, issues, and preferred personal qualities. Future scholarship on voter decision making and representation will have to take account of this theoretically and methodologically significant book.'

Ronald Rapoport - John Marshall Professor of Government, College of William and Mary, Virginia

'Stone’s integration of a vast literature with his own research also sheds some light on the effects of the polarization phenomenon on the choices voters make and demonstrates that polarization and well-known theories of voting behavior like the median voter are not incompatible. For those interested in the study of voting behavior, this is a necessary addition to their libraries.’

Jim Twombly Source: Choice

'In this thorough yet concise treatment, Stone takes a layered approach to understanding the connection between the policy positions and personal attributes of candidates and the decisions voters make. … Candidates and Voters is essential reading for scholars focused on spatial models of electoral competition, but there is also a broader audience that should heed the findings. Stone establishes that policy and valence have a significant and independent effect on American elections. Thus, scholars who are focused on trying to explain the causes and consequences of partisan polarization in U.S. politics cannot ignore these factors and focus only on national partisan politics.'

Michael J. Ensley Source: Perspectives on Politics