ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author aims to take advantage of data from a unique study that allows us to examine precisely the similarities and differences between political elites and the public. His aim is to take a step beyond an earlier examination he using these data in order to see just how much difference there is between elites and the public when one looks a little deeper into the composition of the public. Reforming the primary system, non-partisan redistricting, public financing of elections, and various tax law changes are just a few of the things that one might imagine doing. Starting with ideology, the distribution for the Annenberg survey public respondents on the ideology scale used in the instrument is quite congruent with the results in American National Election Studies (ANES) surveys. The Annenberg study respondents were also asked a question about their political views quite comparable to the liberal/conservative question in the ANES.
