Political Science

Cindy D. Kam has been named dean of faculty affairs in the College of Arts and Science. Kam, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Political Science and director of the Research on Individuals, Politics and Society Lab, steps into the role as Kamal Saggi, Frances and John Downing Family Professor of Economics, moves into a new leadership position in the Office of the Provost. Read More

For the first time since the Vanderbilt Poll–Nashville was established in 2015, more than half of respondents say they believe the city is headed in the wrong direction. Davidson County voters are concerned about affordable housing and crime, but give positive marks to Mayor John Cooper and other local leaders. Read More

Esteemed political scientist Larry Bartels, whose scholarship deepens the understanding of how voters behave and that behavior’s consequences for democratic governance, is Vanderbilt University’s winner of the 2022 Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award. Read More

Join the Center for Effective Lawmaking for a roundtable discussion touching on questions of race, representation and policymaking in the contemporary Congress. The event will be Thursday, March 31, at 6 p.m. CT at the Student Life Center Commodore Ballroom. Read More

Support for Gov. Bill Lee is down among Tennessee voters, fueled in part by his controversial stances on vaccine and mask requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest statewide Vanderbilt Poll. Read More

Chancellor Daniel Diermeier spoke to students in the Unity and American Democracy course Nov. 30 and used his talk in part to discuss the fundamental purpose of universities: to teach students “not what to think, but how to think.” Read More

Democracy is still struggling in the Americas, with citizens reporting high skepticism about electoral democracy, according to the newly released 2021 Pulse of Democracy report from Vanderbilt University’s LAPOP Lab. Read More

Jon Meacham, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Professor of American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, was formally installed as Canon Historian of the Washington National Cathedral on Nov. 7. Read More

Vanderbilt University research from Professor of Political Science Elizabeth Zechmeister shows that gendered beliefs about leadership mean that women heads of state are less likely than men to receive a bump in support after an international terrorist incident. Read More

Public opinion polls ahead of the 2020 election were the most inaccurate in a generation, according to Josh Clinton, Abby and Jon Winkelried Chair and professor of political science, who recently served as chair of a special task force convened by the American Association for Public Opinion Research specifically to evaluate polling. Read More

U.S. Rep. David Price, who has represented the fourth district of North Carolina through seven White House administrations, shared insights about the changes he has witnessed in Congress during an online discussion with Vanderbilt political scientists Alan Wiseman and Larry Bartels on June 28. Read More

Divisive party politics continue to dominate attitudes among Tennessee residents on key social issues, including the state’s response to COVID-19, willingness to get vaccinated and questions about whether the 2020 presidential election was “stolen,” according to the latest Vanderbilt University poll. Read More

Nicholas S. Zeppos, Cornelius Vanderbilt Chancellor Emeritus, credits the university’s dedication to holding in-person classes last fall—and his students’ adherence to health and safety protocols—for his successful transition to full-time professor during an unprecedented year. Read More

Presidential rhetoric expert Vanessa Beasley presents the history of the U.S. president's annual address to Congress—and what to expect in tonight's address. Read More

Davidson County voters have slightly less confidence in their elected officials and core institutions compared to last year; however, a majority of Nashville residents still think the city is “generally headed in the right direction,” according to the latest Vanderbilt Poll-Nashville. Read More

How do television networks predict election outcomes? The virtual event “A Peek Inside the NBC Decision Desk: Election 2020” scheduled for Friday, April 16, at 2 p.m. CT will provide an overview. Read More

Research Snapshot: Eunji Kim finds that politics have become more like sports than ever before: It is easier to watch partisan news when your political party is winning. Est. reading time: 75 seconds. Read More

The Aspen Institute’s Socrates Program will host a virtual conversation, “Is National Unity Possible?” on Thursday, April 1, at 1 p.m. CT featuring the co-chairs of the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy: former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Vanderbilt faculty members Samar Ali and Jon Meacham. Read More

Vanderbilt University and AmericasBarometer, a public opinion survey on democracy and governance run by the Latin American Public Opinion Project, were cited in the recent Ecuadorian presidential debate. Read More

Legislative effectiveness scores are at the core of the research conducted at the Center for Effective Lawmaking, co-directed by Vanderbilt‘s Alan Wiseman. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., along with Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and retired Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., were the most effective Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the recently completed 116th Congress, according to new research from the center. Read More