Department of Political Science

Political scientists explore how the November election will be viewed if there’s a split between the popular vote and the Electoral College count.

Latest Bright Line Watch analysis finds erosion “across the board” on measures of democratic principles and how well the US is abiding by them.

While voting by mail would allow tens of millions of people to participate safely in this fall's election, it carries its own risk to the integrity of the voting, say the authors of a forthcoming book on secret balloting.

In a new book, Rochester political scientist David Primo and his coauthor argue that the influence of campaign financing is misunderstood by voters, policymakers, the media, and political analysts.

Female electoral quota systems are designed to increase the representation of women in politics, but may curtail representation in other respects, Rochester political scientists find.

In a career spanning five decades, Richard (Dick) Fenno, who died in April 21, was instrumental in shaping the field of political science and in establishing the national reputation of Rochester's political science department.

The nonpartisan Bright Line Watch research group finds that perceptions of the health of US democracy clearly declined after the president’s impeachment.

In an analysis for the Washington Post, Rochester political scientist Bethany Lacina finds that, in whiter media markets, people seek out personal information about actors of color less.

With a fast-paced plot and more conservative themes, The Rise of Skywalker avoided the online trolling that greeted its predecessor, argues associate professor of political science Bethany Lacina in the Washington Post.

The Great Recession officially lasted through June 2009, with unemployment levels peaking in October of that year. And while unemployment is now the lowest it’s been in the last 50 years, Rochester experts say the recession is still very much with us.