First published in 1960 by Angus Campbell, Warren Miller, Philip Converse, and Donald Stokes of the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan, The American Voter (AV) is considered an icon in the study of voting behavior theories and forms the foundation of the National Election Studies. The work is primarily concerned with the fundamental processes of political decision making by individual voters in the election of the American president, specifically as found during the 1956 EisenhowerStevenson presidential vote.

The work defines a political system as a collection of processes for the making of decisions. As such, the authors seek to comprehend the electoral process itself, as office holders in a democratic government are guided in many of their actions by what the work terms ...