D. Baldassarri, Party Misfits: The Social ases of Partisanship in an Era of Polarized Politics, advance contract with Princeton University Press - in preparation.

2012 D. Baldassarri, The Simple Art of Voting: The Cognitive Shortcuts of Italian Voters, Oxford University Press (revised and translated).

Description: Voting distills a complex decision into a deceptively simple action. During campaign seasons, the electorate faces a messy tangle of parties, leaders, and issues. How is it possible for voters to unravel it all? How do they perceive and evaluate the political landscape? How, in short, do voters choose?

Not only is voting a complex choice, but voters themselves also vary widely in their degree of interest, and involvement in politics. Too often, though, scholars have ignored this variety by focusing on a mythic "average voter."

This book focuses on how choices are made given the cognitive limitations of the human mind and the environment in which decision-making takes place. Drawing on recent advances in the study of cognitive psychology, decision-making, and political cognition, Baldassarri provides a careful empirical examination of the strategies voters actually use to manage the complexity of political choice. 

2005 D. Baldassarri, La semplice arte di votare. Le scorciatoie cognitive degli elettori italiani, Il Mulino, Bologna. 

Italian Political Science Association Prize for the Best Political Science book published by a scholar under forty (2005-2006).