Stonecash, Jeffrey M. 1946–

PERSONAL:

Born November 18, 1946. Education: Muskingum College, B.A.; University of Virginia, M.A.(economics); Northwestern University, M.A. (political science), Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Maxwell School of Syracuse University, Political Science Department, 100 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244.

CAREER:

Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, Maxwell Professor of Political Science; New York State Assembly Internship Program, professor-in-residence.

WRITINGS:

(With Peter F. Nardulli) Politics, Professionalism, and Urban Services, Oelgeschlager, Gunn & Hain (Cambridge, MA), 1981.

(Editor, with John Kenneth White and Peter W. Colby) Governing New York State, 3rd edition, State University of New York Press (Albany, NY), 1994, 5th edition, edited with Robert P. Pecorella, 2006.

American State and Local Politics, Harcourt Brace College Publishers (Fort Worth, TX), 1995.

Class and Party in American Politics, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 2000.

(With Mary P. McGuire) The Emergence of State Government: Parties and New Jersey Politics, 1950-2000, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (Madison, WI), 2003.

(With Mark D. Brewer and Mack D. Mariani) Diverging Parties: Social Change, Realignment, and Party Polarization, Westview Press (Boulder, CO), 2003.

Political Polling: Strategic Information in Campaigns, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 2003.

Political Parties Matter: Realignment and the Return of Partisan Voting, Lynne Rienner Publishers (Boulder, CO), 2006.

(With Mark D. Brewer) Split: Class and Cultural Divides in American Politics, CQ Press (Washington, DC), 2007.

Reassessing the Incumbency Effect, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2008.

Contributor to books, including New York Politics and Government: Competition and Compassion, by Sarah F. Liebschutz, with Robert W. Bailey, Jane Shapiro Zacek, and Joseph F. Zimmerman, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 1998. Contributor to periodicals, including the American Political Science Review, American Politics Quarterly, International Journal of Public Opinion, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Party Politics, Public Budgeting and Finance, Publius, Social Science History, and Western Political Quarterly.

SIDELIGHTS:

Jeffrey M. Stonecash is a writer, political scientist, and educator who has worked for the Maxwell School of Syracuse University in the department of political science. Stonecash is an active researcher in areas such as American political parties and the realignment of the electoral base; the effects of such realignment on national policy debates; and how the role of government changes and affects parties involved in those discussions. He also spends time investigating the characteristics and impact of incumbents in American politics over the last one hundred years. He "specializes in state and urban politics, intergovernmental relations, and political parties," according to the Maxwell School of Syracuse University Department of Political Science Web site, and "focuses on parties and their role in shaping debates about public policy." Stonecash holds an M.A. degree in economics from the University of Virginia, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University.

Stonecash is deeply involved in American politics and issues related to political parties, political polling, and the role of state government. He has served as a pollster in New York state, and has conducted several polling and interview studies, as well as consultancy reports for organizations in New York and elsewhere. In Political Polling: Strategic Information in Campaigns, Stonecash presents a basic explanation of political polling in a book that is "straightforward, clearly written, and largely intuitive," commented Robert M. Eisinger in the Public Opinion Quarterly. Stonecash presents fundamental but detailed information on all aspects of polling. He covers such topics as the design of polling questionnaires, techniques used for identifying and selecting populations samples to be polled, and how scripts are created for use in phone polls. He also explains the analysis and application of data derived from polls of all sizes. "According to Stonecash, polling helps politicians understand their constituents, rather than pander to them," Eisinger noted. Eisinger called the book "thoughtful, incisive, well cited, and engaging." Stonecash's "work should be thought of as an easy-to-read primer, replete with good examples about what to do if one wishes to hire a pollster or conduct a poll oneself," Eisinger concluded.

In Political Parties Matter: Realignment and the Return of Partisan Voting, Stonecash explores the apparent decline of political party allegiance and affiliation during the 1960s and 1970s, and why it increased again during the 1990s. In the book, Stonecash's "central argument is that the parties have undergone long-term secular realignments, and that this process prompted electoral reactions that created the impression that partisanship was declining in importance," commented Ted Reuter in Perspectives on Political Science. In actuality, any perception of the decline of partisanship in the 1960s and 1970s was incorrect; the appearance of voter disassociation was simply an artifact of the broad changes inherent in the large-scale realignments. Stonecash "asserts that the well-documented period of party detachment, which several political scientists have referred to as dealignment, was evidence of an electorate catching up with partisan change, rather than a signal of the decline in the importance of political parties in the United States," noted Mary P. McGuire in a Political Science Quarterly review. "Political Parties Matter is well-written, clearly presented, theoretically rigorous, and exhaustively researched," Reuter stated, concluding: "It is an outstanding contribution to the study of partisan realignment."

Class and Party in American Politics is a "compact and accessible little volume" in which Stonecash "addresses the cross-fertilization of social class and political party influences in American politics," commented Samuel C. Patterson in Perspectives on Political Sci-ence. Stonecash assesses the effect of the political divisions caused by social class conflicts in the United States. He looks carefully at the major political parties' relationships with the various types and levels of social class in America. In total, the author presents a broad-based evaluation of class and voting trends from the end of World War II to the present. Stonecash's "arguments, and the empirical support adduced for them, will help students of American elections better interpret contemporary electoral politics and investigate these politics in the future," Patterson remarked.

Stonecash and coauthor Mark D. Brewer further investigate the significance of class conflicts and cultural clashes in Split: Class and Cultural Divides in American Politics. They consider the relationship between the collisions between class and culture, too. The authors look at the responses by the political parties to these divisions in their electorate, and at the proposals put forth by each party to address problems. They include an assessment of public opinion regarding matters of class and culture. Stonecash and Brewer wrap up their study with a comprehensive consideration of the effects of class and cultural divides on the nature of American politics as a whole.

Stonecash is a frequent contributor to books and periodicals. In New York Politics and Government: Competition and Compassion by Sarah F. Liebschutz, who wrote six of the volume's twelve essays, and with contributions from Stonecash and Robert W. Bailey, Jane Shapiro Zacek, and Joseph F. Zimmerman, the authors examine the theme that "politics in New York exhibits a continuing tension between the pressure to keep the state economically competitive and the tendency of state government to be compassionate in dealing with needy citizens," observed American Political Science Review contributor Robert F. Pecorella. Stonecash's contribution appears in the portion of the book dedicated to addressing political institutions. "The section on political institutions includes descriptive essays and insightful political analyses," Pecorella stated. "Addressing the issue of continued party dominance in the face of decreasing party attachments among voters, Jeff Stonecash analyzes the support bases of the two major parties," Pecorella further remarked, "After detailing the evolution of legislative professionalization in New York, he argues compellingly that the highly partisan, strong leadership system in the state legislature reflects and reinforces regional political conflict in the state." In Stonecash's view, the professionalism and strength of the state legislature makes it a strong political force in its interaction with the executive branch of the state's government. Pecorella remarked that the book is "well suited for use as supplemental reading in a state politics course."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Political Science Review, September, 1998, Robert F. Pecorella, review of New York Politics and Government: Competition and Compassion, p. 709; September, 2001, review of Class and Party in American Politics, p. 742.

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, May, 1982, review of Politics, Professionalism, and Urban Services, p. 197.

Campaigns & Elections, September, 2003, Ron Faucheux, review of Political Polling: Strategic Information in Campaigns, p. 18.

Choice, January, 2001, A.D. McNitt, review of Class and Party in American Politics, p. 987; May, 2003, H.L. Reiter, review of Diverging Parties: Social Change, Realignment, and Party Polarization, p. 1626; June, 2003, review of The Emergence of State Government: Parties and New Jersey Politics, 1950-2000, p. 1829; June, 2004, J. Heyrman, review of Political Polling, p. 1962; April, 2006, R. Heineman, review of Political Parties Matter: Realignment and the Return of Partisan Voting, p. 1482; July, 2007, J.F. Kraus, review of Split: Class and Cultural Divides in American Politics, p. 1985.

Journal of Police Science and Administration, December, 1982, review of Politics, Professionalism, and Urban Services, p. 484.

Perspectives on Political Science, summer, 2001, Samuel C. Patterson, review of Class and Party in American Politics, p. 173; winter, 2006, Ted Reuter, review of Political Parties Matter, p. 50.

Political Science Quarterly, summer, 2006, Mary P. McGuire, review of Political Parties Matter, p. 325.

Prairie Schooner, fall, 2001, review of Class and Party in American Politics, p. 494.

Public Opinion Quarterly, summer, 2004, Robert M. Eisinger, review of Political Polling, p. 320.

Publius, fall, 2000, Stephen L. Schechter, review of New York Politics and Government, p. 178.

Reference & Research Book News, May, 1995, review of American State and Local Politics, p. 29; February, 2003, review of Diverging Parties, p. 149; August, 2003, review of Political Polling, p. 155; February, 2006, review of Political Parties Matter; November, 2006, review of Split.

ONLINE

Maxwell School of Syracuse University Department of Political Science Web site,http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/psc/ (April 22, 2008), author's curriculum vitae.

New York Progressive Network,http://www.nypn.org/ (April 22, 2008), author profile.

Shannon McLoughlin Home Page,http://web.syr.edu/~smmcloug/ (March 30, 2006), review of Political Parties Matter.