Increasingly United States, Chicago Studies in American Politics

“Hopkins is a sure-footed guide to the twilight of local politics, and he’s aware of the risks that these developments may pose.” ―The New Yorker

In a campaign for state or local office these days, you’re as likely today to hear accusations that an opponent advanced Obamacare or supported Donald Trump as you are to hear about issues affecting the state or local community. This is because American political behavior has become substantially more nationalized. American voters are far more engaged with and knowledgeable about what’s happening in Washington, DC, than in places closer to home whether they’re in the South, Northeast, or Midwest. Gone are the days when all politics was local.

With The Increasingly United States, Daniel J. Hopkins explores this trend and its implications for the American political system. The change is significant in part because it works against a key rationale of America’s federalist system, which was built on the assumption that citizens would be more strongly attached to their states and localities. It also has profound implications for how voters are represented. If voters are well informed about state politics, for example, the governor has an incentive to deliver what voters—or at least a pivotal segment of them—want. But if voters are likely to back the same party in gubernatorial as in presidential elections irrespective of the governor’s actions in office, governors may instead come to see their ambitions as tethered more closely to their status in the national party. This book delves into the dynamics that are at work in politics today, and the developments contributing to our political dysfunction.

“Hopkins takes an empirical hammer to shatter the outdated maxim ‘all politics is local.’…an authoritative book on an overlooked but essential topic.” -- Nate Silver, founder and editor, FiveThirtyEight

This is meticulous empirical research that raises big normative questions about where America is headed.”—Robert D. Putnam, New York Times-bestselling author of Bowling Alone

“An extremely important piece of work.”—Vox