Electoral Politics, Public Opinion, and Democracy
Considers the role of elections in American politics. Issues explored include empirical and theoretical models of electoral competition, the effect of elections on public policy, and proposals to improve elections. Special emphasis is given to mass voting behavior, political parties, the media, and campaign finance. Subject focuses on US elections, but provides some contrasts with other countries, especially the United Kingdom.
Fall 2020 · American Elections
This course provides an overview of electoral politics in the United States, covering presidential, congressional, state, and local elections. It covers the development of American elections over time, electoral rules and institutions, the macro-structural forces shaping electoral outcomes, the key organizations involved in elections (parties, etc.), candidates' calculations and campaign strategies, and the role of ordinary citizens in the electoral process, as well as potential reforms to the U.S. electoral system.
Readings
- [S] Chapter 1: Introduction.
- [S] Chapter 2: The American Electoral Process.
- [S] Chapter 3: The Transformation of American Campaigns.
- [S] Chapter 6: Political Parties.
- Silver, Nate. “Are You Smarter than a Television Pundit?” Chapter 2 in The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail—but Some Don’t . Penguin Press, 2012. ISBN: 9781594204111.
- [S] Chapter 4: Financing Campaigns.
- [S] Chapter 7: Interest Groups.
- [S] Chapter 5: Modern Campaign Strategies.
- [S] Chapter 8: Media.
- [S] Chapter 9: Presidential Campaigns.
- [S] Chapter 10: Congressional Campaigns.
- [S] Chapter 11: State and Local Campaigns.
- [S] Chapter 12: Voter Participation.
- [S] Chapter 13: Voter Choice.
- [S] Chapter 14: Democracy in Action or a Broken System?
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: None Acad Year 2027-2028: Not offered Acad Year 2028-2029: U (Fall) 3-0-9 units. HASS-S
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2020
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.