I really enjoyed reading this book. It simplified and made the topic of politics easier to understand. I would recommend this book to anyone.

This book was very informative, though I do admit a good majority of it was more of a review. Votes of Confidence does a great job at explaining the history of American politics, how it works, why it is so important, and how you can get involved.

I feel like most readers will enjoy the book if they are looking to learn more, but if you are someone who believes Trump is great and fully support the MAGA movement's conspiracy theories, this may not be the book for you, as it does point out the flaws of his presidency and character.

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.

This updated version of Votes of Confidence by Jeff Fleischer is a must-read for young and old. In this non-partisan look at the history of the United States government and the roles that we as citizens can play within it, there is so much to learn or refresh one's knowledge. This newest edition is current as of 2023, but with politics moving so quickly, it doesn't have the additional update of Kevin McCarthy being ousted as Speaker of the House. That should not deter one from adding this to the collection. Votes of Confidence brings a sound voice to the echo chambers of "fake news" and explains how we got where we are, and what young voters can do to stay informed and make positive change.

I highly recommend this book for schools and libraries.

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

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.

Well, I'd hoped that when something started with "non-partisan", it would actually mean that. Instead the very first couple of pages start with an anti-Trump dialog. I saw no point in going any further with an opening like that. Disappointed, but not really surprised, that this opens in such a way. There was a lot of potential to actually have a decent discussion about how elections work without opening with a partisan attack. If that's the way this book opens, you've managed to alienate about half of the US.