POL 252 - Topics: American Political Behavior (1)

This course examines a broad subfield of American politics known as “political behavior.” In this course, we will turn our attention away, in some respects, from the institutions that make up our government, and towards the people who are governed by those institutions. At the highest level, this course will dive into how people develop beliefs about politics, how they act on those beliefs, and how patterns in political behavior enhance or undermine democracy. We will ask what the role of public opinion should be in a democracy as well, and how the US compares to that standard.

To answer those big questions, we will start by learning how to rigorously measure public opinion, how individuals form their opinions and beliefs, the many influences on their beliefs, and the role public opinion plays in policymaking. Throughout exploring these concepts, we will investigate actual data from public opinion surveys, the bread and butter of how we understand political behavior.
(Social Science)