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Samuel L. Popkin

Professor Emeritus of Political Science

Popkin has published in unusually diverse areas across subfields. His influential books focused on campaigns, voting, and elections include: The Candidate: What it Takes to Win (and Hold) the White House, The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns, Issues and Strategies: The Computer Simulation of Presidential Campaigns, and Chief of Staff: Twenty-Five Years of Managing the Presidency, and, most recently, Crackup: The Republican Implosion and the Future of Presidential Politics (Oxford University Press, 2021). He is equally well known for his work on peasant society, with particular reference to East and Southeast Asia, including The Rational Peasant: The Political Economy of Rural Society in Vietnam. Popkin has also been a consulting analyst in presidential campaigns, serving as consultant to the Clinton campaign on polling and strategy, to the CBS News election units from 1983 to 1990 on survey design and analysis, and more recently to the Gore campaign. He has also served as consultant to political parties in Canada and Europe and to the Departments of State and Defense.

 Crackup book cover

Ph.D., MIT, 1969
Voting Behavior, Political Economy, Comparative Politics

Curriculum Vitae