James Druckman
Payson S. Wild Professor of Political Science
IPR Associate Director; IPR Fellow
PhD, Political Science, University of California, San Diego, 1999
James Druckman's research focuses on political preference formation, communication, and experimental methods. He also studies sports and politics (with a focus on gender), democratic responsiveness as well as the impact of race in various decision-making setting. Druckman has published more than 150 articles and book chapters in political science, communication, economic, science, and psychology journals. He co-edited Advances In Experimental Political Science and authored Experimental Thinking: A Primer on Social Science Experiments. He has served as editor of the journals Political Psychology and Public Opinion Quarterly as well as the University of Chicago Press's series in American Politics. He currently is the co-Principal Investigator of Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences (TESS). He also sits on numerous advisory boards, organizing committees, prize committees, and editorial boards.
Druckman's work has been recognized with numerous awards including many best paper/book awards; he also has received grant support from such entities as the National Science Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and Phi Beta Kappa. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (pdf) and the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. He further received Northwestern’s Martin E. and Gertrude G. Walder Award for Research Excellence. His teaching/advising has been recognized with the Outstanding Award for Freshman Advising, an Outstanding Faculty citation by Northwestern's Associated Student Government, and the Karl Rosengren Faculty Mentoring Award.
Druckman obtained his BA from Northwestern, majoring in mathematical methods in the social sciences and political science. He is also an Honorary Professor of Political Science at Aarhus University in Denmark.
Current Research
Partisanship. Druckman explores the causes and consequences of political polarization in the United States. This includes studies looking at how to measure polarization, and its impact on political norms and attitudes about COVID-19.
COVID-19. Druckman is involved in a large-scale collaboration to study COVID-19 on a state level basis.
Political and Science Communication. Druckman has various projects that explore how mass communication influences citizens' opinions. This includes work looking at the impact of partisan media, and the hurdles and antidotes to effective scientific communication (e.g., with regard to climate change and other scientific issues).
Sports Politics. Druckman is writing a book about gender quality in college sports and specifically the roots of vast inequalities.
Campaigns in a New Media Age: How Candidates Use the World Wide Web to Win Elections. Martin Kifer of High Point University, Michael Parkin of Oberlin College, and Druckman are studying the congressional elections and representation. This project has been ongoing since 2002 and involves the coding of nearly 500 candidate websites, along with surveys of campaigns and experiments on campaign effects.
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Druckman, J. N., J. Levy, and N. Sands. N.d. “Bias in Education Disability Accommodations.” Economics of Education Review. Forthcoming.
Boxell, L., J. Conway, J. N. Druckman, M. Gentzkow. N.d. “Affective Polarization Did Not Increase During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Quarterly Journal of Political Science. Forthcoming.
Druckman, J. N., S. Klar, Y. Krupnikov, M. Levendusky and J. Barry Ryan. N.d. “(Mis-)Estimating Affective Polarization,” with S. Klar, Y. Krupnikov, M. Levendusky, and J. Barry Ryan. The Journal of Politics. Forthcoming.
Druckman. J. N., S. Klar, Y. Krupnikov, M. Levendusky and J. Barry Ryan. “Affective Polarization, Local Contexts, and Public Opinion in America.” Nature Human Behavior 5: 28-38, 2021.
Pink, S. L., J. Chu, J. N. Druckman, D. G. Rand, and R. Willer. 2021.“Elite Party Cues Increase Vaccination Intentions among Republicans.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 118: e2106559118.
Druckman. J. N., and R. Bayes. 2021. “Motivated Reasoning and Climate Change.” Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 42: 27–35, 2021.
Adam J. B., J. N. Druckman, and T. Yamamoto. 2021. “Publication Biases in Replication Studies.” Political Analysis 29: 370-384.
Books
Druckman, J. N. 2022. Experimental Thinking: A Primer on Social Science Experiments, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Druckman, J. N., and D. P. Green, eds. 2021. Advances in Experimental Political Science. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Druckman, J. N., and L. R. Jacobs. 2015. Who Governs? Presidents, Public Opinion, and Manipulation. University of Chicago Press.
Druckman, J. N., with D. P. Green, James H. Kuklinski, and Arthur Lupia, eds. 2011. Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Political Science. New York: Cambridge University Press.
