9 Feb 2006 16:3 AR ANRV276-PL09-21.tex XMLPublish SM (2004/02/24) P1: KUV AR REVIEWS IN ADVANCE10.1146/annurev.polisci.9.111605.105008 (Some corrections may occur before final publication online and in print) R E V I E W S I N A D V A N C E Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 2006. 9:477–502 doi: 10.1146/annurev.polisci.9.111605.105008 Copyright c  2006 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved F OREIGN P OLICY AND THE ELECTORAL CONNECTION John H. Aldrich, 1 Christopher Gelpi, 1 Peter Feaver, 1,2 Jason Reifler, 3 and Kristin Thompson Sharp 1 1 Department of Political Science, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708; email: aldrich@duke.edu; gelpi@duke.edu; pfeaver@duke.edu; kct5@duke.edu 2 White House, Washington, DC 20500 3 Department of Political Science, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois 60626; email: jreifle@luc.edu Key Words public opinion, voting behavior, foreign policy decision making, democratic accountability ■ Abstract Public opinion is central to representation, democratic accountability, and decision making. Yet, the public was long believed to be relatively uninterested in foreign affairs, absent an immediate threat to safety and welfare. It had become conventional to say that “voting ends at water’s edge.” We start the examination of the scholarly understanding of the role of foreign affairs in public opinion and voting at that low point of view. Much subsequent development saw an increasing degree of holding and using of attitudes and beliefs about foreign affairs among the public. Moving in parallel with developments in political psychology, theoretical and methodological advances led to an increasingly widely shared view that the public holds reasonably sensible and nuanced views, that these help shape their political behaviors, and that these, in turn, help shape and constrain foreign policy making. “War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military.” –Georges Clemenceau “[Clemenceau] once said that war is too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he may have been right...but now, war is too important to be left to the politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought... . And I can no longer sit around and allow Communist subversion, Communist corruption, and Communist infiltration of our precious bodily fluids.” –Col. Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove 1094-2939/06/0615-0477$20.00 477