Elections 2012

Welcome to the Elections 2012 page, where the UCLA Political Science Department will keep you up to date on this year's presidential elections and what our professors have to say about it. Please check back often as our faculty are very active and new videos and interviews will be added regularly.

Professor Lynn Vavreck, one of the department's foremost public intellectuals, has been on the campaign trail in recent months studying the 2012 election as it unfolds.
Here are few of her recent interviews and publications:
- Why unemployment won't be the deciding factor in the election
- Bad employment numbers do not pave an easy road for Romney
- The relationship between high gas prices and Obama's approval rating is not what you may expect
- Vavreck's book, "The Message Matters" proving true in this election
- Vavreck reminds political junkies that we are not the norm
- Predict the presidential election outcome with this interactive tool!
- Vavreck discusses the economy's potential effects on the upcoming elections
- Vavreck argues that Obama is not the political underdog

Professor Tim Groseclose's book "Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind" has received ample press this year. It was most recently the basis for an article in the Orange County Registrar.

Professor John Zaller and a team of UCLA alumni coauthored a pivotal book on the subject of elections, "The Party Decides: Presidential Elections Before and After Reform."
The book has been cited in several political blogs and articles recently:
- The American Prospect
- The Washington Post
- The Economist

Lynn Vavreck, professor of Political Science. December 20, 2011.