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ABOUT PROF. SHAW

"Nothing of consequence for real political campaigns ever came from political science."

-James Carville

Professor Shaw received his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from UCLA before joining the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin in the fall of 1994. His areas of research and teaching specialization include Public Opinion and Voting Behavior, Applied Survey Research, Campaigns and Elections, Political Parties and American Government. His most recent book is “Battleground: Electoral College Strategies, Execution, and Impact in the Modern Era” (Oxford University Press, 2024). Professor Shaw has published articles in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Politics, Political Communication, The British Journal of Political Science, Public Opinion Quarterly, Political Behavior, Political Research Quarterly, Political Geography, Presidential Studies Quarterly, PS: Political Science, Party Politics, Electoral Studies, The Journal of Political Marketing, and American Politics Research.

 

Before accepting a position at Texas, Professor Shaw worked as a survey research analyst in several political and marketing campaigns. Subsequently, he served as a survey research and targeting expert for three presidential campaigns. Professor Shaw is currently Associate PI for the National Election Study, a member of the Fox News Decision Team and one half of the bipartisan team conducting the Fox News Poll, the PI for the University of Texas Poll, the director of the Texas Lyceum Poll, and a member of the advisory board for the Annette Strauss Institute. In 2013 he served as one of the lead academic advisors for the Presidential Commission on Election Administration. From 2003-2009 he served as a presidential appointee to the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. He has also been a research fellow at the Hoover Institute, and has served on the Board of Directors for the Ulysses S. Grant Institute. Professor Shaw is the founder and director of Shaw & Company Research.

EDUCATION

1988-1992

UCLA

Ph.D., Political Science

1984-1988

UCLA

B.A., Political Science

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Campaigns & Elections

Candidate strategy, targeting, mobilization, and mode effects.

Public Opinion & Voting Behavior

Polling and survey methodology, public attitudes and opinions, partisanship, and turnout.

Political Parties

Organizational articulation, coalitional profiles and dynamics, and polarization.

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