Location: Online
Time: MW 1-2.20
Instructor:
Shanto Iyengar (siyengar@stanford.edu)
Office Hours: Tue Noon-2 (and by appt.)
Teaching Assistants:
Alejandra Aldridge (agimenez@stanford.edu)
Office Hours: Wed 3-5 (and by appt.)
Rachel Lienesch (lienesch@stanford.edu)
Office Hours: Tue 10-Noon (and by appt.)
Brett Parker (bparker2@stanford.edu)
Office Hours: Thu 10-Noon (and by appt.)
Class website: polici120b.stanford.edu
Text: Media Politics: A Citizen's Guide (Fourth Edition). W. W. Norton, 2018. ISBN 978-0-393-66487-4.
All other required readings are available on the class website. Access to the readings is restricted to those enrolled or auditing the course.
This course examines the theory and practice of American political campaigns. First, we explain the behavior of the key players — candidates, journalists, and voters — in terms of the institutional arrangements and political incentives that confront them. Second, we use the 2016 election and the ongoing 2020 campaigns as a "laboratory" for testing general propositions about the behavior of journalists, candidates, and voters. Last, we discuss selections from the academic literature dealing with the immediate effects of campaigns on public opinion and voter behavior as well as possible long-term consequences for governance and the democratic process.
We will calculate your grade based on a midterm, final exam (non-cumulative), a research paper, a class presentation (covering one of the assigned readings), and your presence in the discussion section. The exams each count for 25 percent of the grade, the paper for 30 percent, your class presentation for 10 percent, and the remaining 10 percent is based on participation in the discussion section. The research paper must address some issue or aspect of public opinion and voting behavior, summarize the state of knowledge about the issue, and then present relevant evidence (quantitative "data") derived from the American National Election Studies (ANES) database. The discussion section will provide training on accessing and analyzing ANES data. The deadline for selecting a paper topic is October 26.
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Students who may need an academic accommodation based on the impact of a disability must initiate the request with the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). Professional staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which the request is being made. Students should contact the OAE as soon as possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. The OAE is located at 563 Salvatierra Walk (phone: 650-723-1066, URL:studentaffairs.stanford.edu/oae).