caa a22 4500 475800583 CHVBK 20180406123736.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170329e20000301xx s 000 0 eng 10.1023/A:1006642501693 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1023/A:1006642501693 Niven David Department of Political Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL aut The Other Side of Optimism: High Expectations and the Rejection of Status Quo Politics [Elektronische Daten] [David Niven] Why are options that suggest a rejection of status quo politics popular today? This study suggests that an overlooked and important source of disappointment in government is the unrealistically optimistic expectations many Americans hold. At the surface it seems almost paradoxical: Americans generally tend to be quite optimistic, while at the same time they are negative and cynical about politics. This research suggests that because strong optimists have such high expectations, they react to political disappointments much more negatively than do those who have more modest expectations, thus reducing trust in government and belief in the system. The disappointed optimist seeks remedies for their disappointment, and in so doing, embraces the political unknown, whether embodied in an inexperienced, ideologically vague political leader such as Colin Powell, a third political party, or the mystery men and women who would be called into service after term limits remove incumbents from office. Plenum Publishing Corporation, 2000 Political Behavior Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers 22/1(2000-03-01), 71-88 0190-9320 22:1<71 2000 22 11109 https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006642501693 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006642501693 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Niven David Department of Political Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Political Behavior Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers 22/1(2000-03-01), 71-88 0190-9320 22:1<71 2000 22 11109 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer