GOVT311: Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior

Available on this page

• Class handouts 
• On-Line class readings
• Class assignments (TBA)
• Lecture notes
• Dr. McDonald contact Information

Class Materials

• Tentative Syllabus

On-Line Class Readings (more to be added)

Week 1

• Glynn, Herbst, O'Keefe, Shapiro, and Lindeman. Public Opinion, Second Edition. Chpt 1, 2

Week 3

• Alexandar Keyssar. "The Right to Vote: Chapter 1"
• Justin Levitt. "A Citizen's Guide to Redistricting."

Week 4

• Robert Putnam. "Bowling Alone"
• Michael McDonald. 2010 update: "Voter Turnout in the 2010 Midterm Election."
• Norrander and Wilcox Chapter 10: Brady, Schlozman, Verba, and Elms. "Who Bowls?"
• Optional: McDonald and Popkin. "The Myth of the Vanishing Voter." 
• Optional: 2008 update. "The Return of the Voter."

Week 7

• Norrander and Wilcox Chapter 11: Paul Brewer. "Public Opinion, Economic Issues, and the Vote."
• Gelman Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State Chapter 4.

Week 10

• Norrander and Wilcox Chapter 8: Jacoby. "Core Values and Political Attitudes."

Week 11

• Norrander and Wilcox Chapter 1: Sapiro. "The Gender Bias of Public Opinion."
• Norrander and Wilcox Chapter 3: Calhoun-Brown. "Black Churches and Partisan Political Attitudes."
• Norrander and Wilcox Chapter 4: Uhlahner and Garcia. "Latino Public Opinion."

Week 12

• Norrander and Wilcox Chapter 13: Rhan and Rudolph. "Trust in Local Governments."
• Norrander and Wilcox Chapter 14: Hibbing. "Unselfish Government."
• Norrander and Wilcox Chapter 15: Mishler and Rose. "Support for Post-Communist Governments."

Week 13

• Iyengar and Kinder "News that Matters" Chapter 3.

Week 14

• Norrander and Wilcox Chapter 5: Carmines and Sniderman. "Racial Attitudes."
• Norrander and Wilcox Chapter 6: Wilcox and Norrander. "Abortion and Gay Rights."

Class Lecture Notes (In PowerPoint)
Hint: For easier viewing, download the file by right-clicking your mouse and opening it in Powerpoint.  Powerpoint has a feature that allows you to print out more than one slide on the same piece of paper. From "Print," select the "Print what" pull-down box for "Handouts."  You can now change the number of slides you print on each page. (This works for older versions of Powerpoint, I do not know the sequence for newer versions.)

• Lecture 1: Public Opinion
• Lecture 2: Polling Methodology Review
• Lecture 3: The Right to Vote also Redistricting 101
• Lecture 4: Turnout
• Lecture 5: Partisanship
• Lecture 6: Partisan Change
• Lecture 7: Vote Choice
• Lecture 8: Individual Opinion
• Lecture 9: Ideology
• Lecture 10': Group Opinion
• Lecture 10: Individual Opinion
• Lecture 11: Trust
• Lecture 12: Political Communication
• Lecture 13: Rights and Representation

Other Useful Links

• New York Redistricting Competition
• American National Election Study
• CNN exit polls

Paper Assignment #1 (Due: Sept. 29)

Why do presidential candidates win one state, but do poorly in another? You will explore this question by analyzing the support bases of Obama and McCain. You will look for consistent patterns of support in the exit polls (here is a link to CNN's exit polls, these seem to be in the best format and most complete). Some of the many poll items you may look at include: do younger voters tend to support a candidate? Do evangelical Christians? Poor or rich? Educated or uneducated?

Once you have established the support base of your candidate, you will choose a state where Obama performed best and McCain performed best, and a toss-up state. Does the composition of the state's electorate explain the election outcome?

You should be careful to correctly interpret the polls. Are the differences you observe statistically significant or just random sampling error? (The margin of error for a typical exit poll is +/- 4% points.)

Your paper should be 4-5 pages long, double spaced in 12 point Times New Roman Font. You will be graded on content (80%) and style (20%). All references should be properly footnoted. Any footnote style is acceptable as long as a reader is provided enough information to locate the reference.

Professor McDonald Contact Info

Office Hours for Fall 2010: TH 1-3pm or by appointment.
Office: Robinson A 234
Phone: 703-993-4191
email: mmcdon@gmu.edu