Description:

The first lecture of the Practical Policies: Real-world applications of policy theories with Institute of Policy Research series. 

Christopher Skovron
Postdoctoral research scholar, Institute for Policy Research and Data Science Initiative

Food and refreshments will be provided.

Many political advocates express frustration that public policy does not correspond with majority public opinion, even on salient issues that are the topic of significant public debate and polling. In his research, he proposes a possible explanation for disconnects between public opinion and policy: politicians may systematically misperceive their constituents’ opinions. Using thousands of original surveys of candidates for state legislature as well as fine-grained estimates of district-level public opinion, he shows that Republican politicians consistently and strongly overestimate public support for conservative issue positions. Democratic politicians have more accurate perceptions of opinion in their district. He considers possible explanations for these trends, especially how politicians perceive different citizens’ likelihood of voting.