Votes of Confidence, 3rd Edition: A Young Person's Guide to American Elections

by Jeff Fleischer

A detailed primer on the United States election cycle - newly revised and updated!

Every four years, coverage of the presidential election turns into a horse-race story about who’s leading the polls and who said what when. Social media and online news have made it easier to spread false information (even by accident) and harder to know what’s accurate. It can be difficult to get good information about how the election process actually works, why it matters, or how you can get involved. Civics education and information about how our government functions is necessary whether you're a longtime voter or a soon-to-be voter. This newly revised edition includes statistics and anecdotes from recent elections alongside straightforward, nonpartisan analysis and explanation. Author Jeff Fleischer uses a fun, casual voice and real-world examples to provide an essential resource that will remain relevant long after the next president is elected.

Praise for the second edition of Votes of Confidence :
"A very readable, engaging, and entertaining history of American elections and politics for young people."―starred, Booklist

"Reads like course notes from a beloved teacher . . . A history lesson, civics compendium, and call to action combined in one engaging volume."― School Library Journal

Genres: Nonfiction

264 pages, Paperback

Published March 5, 2024

About the author

Jeff Fleischer is a non-fiction author, journalist, and short-fiction writer. Originally from Chicago, he has also worked in San Francisco, Australia and New Zealand, and his work has appeared in publications including the Sydney Morning Herald, Mother Jones, Chicago Magazine, Mental_Floss, and dozens of other print and online publications. He has a degree in journalism and history from Indiana University and a master's in journalism from Medill at Northwestern University.

Reviews

[Shilo Quetchenbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent introduction to US government and elections and how they work. It goes into historical detail to illustrate how things have changed over time and provides information on how to make your own voice heard. It should be required reading in high school.

I read it with my 10-year-old who is very interested in politics right now, and he was engaged throughout. The reading level is too high for him to have read it himself, though reading it out loud at bedtime, where I could explain things he was confused about, worked well.

I learned a lot, especially on the history side of things. I know he learned a lot as well.

It did tend to ramble a bit towards the middle, with maybe more historical context than was strictly necessary, but it was interesting enough that I can forgive it that. It must have been quite difficult to condense the sprawling nature of US politics into a coherent structure like this.

I really appreciated the recent political context and examples as well. It used examples up through 2023 which make it feel much more relevant and current.

[Baudshaw (Aadi Indradevi) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a pretty generic social science book, but there was one weird error- it says Democrats have moved to the right since 1980? (This book was published in 2024.)

[Brandon Westlake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to first state that I have not read earlier editions of Votes of Confidence, so I cannot comment about the information in this version compared to those. What I will say is that I began reading Fleischer's work thinking that it would really be a primer in election studies, that it would help me break down for younger citizens, or more uninformed citizens, how the system is designed to work. What I immediately found is that the book is valuable for having so much more than that.

Fleischer does a great job of explaining American politics as a whole, keeping a lens on elections as the centerpiece of democratic civic participation. There are some extra panels throughout the book that go just a bit deeper, and many are fascinating.

Easy to digest, Votes of Confidence would be great to use in a high school government class. It's more engaging than a lot of textbooks I've seen, and speaks in terms that is more on students' levels. I really recommend the sections on fake news/misinformation; it could definitely spawn some great discussion and reflection for younger citizens.

If you're looking for a solid introduction to American government, I encourage you to grab this one. It is relevant for readers and takes a lot of the confusion out of the system.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great volume! It's very readable! I was drawn in by the introduction's connection to modern issues and the challenges it presented. Before I knew it, I was reading origin stories and interesting snippets (marked in greyed-out backgrounds) and learning all sorts of things about our government, election system, and the details of how we got to where we are. The challenges and disagreements we've faced - then and now - and the unfortunate realities of compromises aren't shied away from. I really appreciate that this book not only discusses the history of our system, but it also addresses the "what now?" questions - how to be an informed voter, how to support the process, and how to run for office, among other things. This is a great primer and I hope it will be helpful to many teens as they begin to consider what it will look like for them to be politically active in a thoughtful manner.

[Lisa Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource for teens and adults who want to understand elections in the United States. You can learn about the parties, the process, polls... every relevant topic I could think of was covered. The text was easy to understand and there were multiple examples to make it easy to understand some of the odd parts. I haven't seen the earlier editions, but I appreciate how this one is updated with current examples.
Thanks to NetGalley for making this ARC available to me