The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion (Cambridge Studies in Public Opinion and Political Psychology)

The book isn't written in fluent English. It deliberately uses unecessary words. It takes 300 odd pages to present 20 pages of material. It operates on a premise of influencial groups of elites, as opposed to social groups. It repeats messages unecessarily.One major problem is the conflation of criticisms, and distinguishing of others

This book is a must read for political scientists. Even as someone who is not too interested in the public opinion literature, I found this to be an enjoyable read.

Zaller turns our perception of polling data on its ear. People don't think about most issues until they are asked, so opinion surveying might actually do more to shape opinions than actually report on them.

You want to know about public opinion? Read this book. You want to study political science past the undergraduate level? Read this book.

Needed it for school.