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The Presidential Expectations Gap: Public Attitudes Concerning the Presidency. By Waterman Richard , Silva Carol L. , and Jenkins-Smith Hank . Ann Arbor, MI : University of Michigan Press , 2014. 216p. $65.00.
Book Reviews: American Politics
Richard Waterman, Carol L. Silva, and Hank Jenkins-Smith have tackled head-on the concept of a gap between public expectations of a president and the actual capability of presidents to secure concrete accomplishments in office. Many presidential scholars have acknowledged the existence of this presidential expectations gap (see, e.g., Thomas Cronin and Michael Genovese, The Paradoxes of the American Presidency, 2013, for their examination of contradictory public expectations), although the authors note that some still question it (e.g., Richard M. Pious, The American Presidency, 1996). Where this book advances the conversation about this gap between public perceptions and presidential achievements is in its steady focus on providing empirical evidence to prove by systematic analysis the existence of this disparity and, even more significantly, to demonstrate that the effects of this gap have substantial political consequences on the presidency as well as on broader aspects of American democracy, such as the level of trust in government (especially in its leaders both in Congress and the White House) and perceptions of political efficacy.
Presidents and the public alike should take pause at that conclusion. At a time when deep cynicism about politics rules the realm, these authors show us how the public's unrealistic preconceptions about what one person can accomplish (albeit, with the bureaucratic apparatus that comes with the office) create a vicious cycle: The public over-expects and the president under-delivers, with the inevitable result of perpetual public disappointment in presidential performance. Waterman, Silva, and Jenkins-Smith then carry this logic one step further by showing empirically that this public dissatisfaction leads to a destructive loss of trust in government, which negatively affects the political status of an incumbent president and his party, i.e., leading to drops in public approval...