PSCI5200 - Political Behavior & Public Opinion

This course is designed to give advanced undergraduates and graduate students exposure to the literature on political behavior in American politics (the course is part of the departments graduate sequence in American politics). The course will cover both the classics of public opinion and political behavior from the Columbia, Michigan, and Rochester schools, as well as more current topics and debates in the literature. Topics include (but are not limited to) the early voting studies, the role of partisanship and polarization, the nature and origins of ideology, mass-elite interactions, heuristics and low information rationality, the nature of the survey response, campaign and media effects, framing effects, and the role of institutions in structuring behavior. Undergraduates are welcome in the class, but they should know that the class assumes familiarity with quantitative approaches to studying politics, and they should speak to the instructor before enrolling.