Stony Brook Conference Explores Political Behavior in Turbulent Times

"Studying Political Behavior in Turbulent Times" was the theme of the American Political Science Association conference hosted by Stony Brook's Department of Political Science. Photos by John Griffin.

Stony Brook University's Department of Political Sciencehosted the third conference sponsored by the Elections, Public Opinion and Voting section of the American Political Science Association.

National and international faculty and PhD students converged in the Alan S. deVries Center May 29-31 for a far-reaching event designed to offer a balanced mix of researchers and scholars at different stages of their careers. The theme of the conference was "Studying Political Behavior in Turbulent Times."

In a series of plenary, paper, poster and workshop sessions, presenters discussed a wide range of topics including political polarization, the spread of misinformation, democratic backsliding, the potential for political violence, and more.

"This institution facilitates social mobility for students better than any other university in the country," said David Wrobel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, in his welcome remarks. "There's a democratic power to higher education, an ability to transform lives. And I think right now, we all need to believe in that at a time when we are facing multiple challenges to higher education."

Wrobel also cited American author John Steinbeck's defense of American democracy from the 1930s to the 1960s, the subject of a book he is working on.

David Wrobel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, provided the welcome remarks.

"Steinbeck's definition of democracy rested on both individual rights and government responsibilities," said Wrobel. "He believed deeply in the right to freedom of speech and freedom of thought. During the Cold War, he placed a heavy emphasis on artistic freedom and how that was the measure of whether democracy really existed in a society. Today, it feels that we're a long way away from Steinbeck's vision. But when I think about our work here at Stony Brook in promoting social mobility and being bastions of opportunity and freedom of thought, I get idealistic again; I get hopeful and I believe we can get through all of this."

"There couldn't be more pressing problems," added Leonie Huddy, SUNY distinguished professor and chair of the Department chair of Political Science. "I think we all believe that the work that we do is incredibly important, especially now, and this conference will feature some very rigorous discussions about the public and its shortcomings when it comes to democracy."

Highlights included a panel on local news that presented new data on the negative consequences of an increasingly nationalized news environment. These negative consequences include higher re-election rates and fewer political challengers for current county-level elected officials. Consuming local news also decreases partisan polarization and increases voters' knowledge about their local member of Congress. The panel underscored the clear negative effects on democracy of declining local news coverage.

"It is often difficult to pin down the true impact of media, since people tend to consume news that matches their existing views," said Professor Ryan Vander Wielen. "However, these studies used innovative methods to isolate the causal impact of this shift in the media landscape, and their results were eye-opening."

Vander Wielen said local news consumption enhances knowledge of and approval of local members of Congress, and decreases hostility toward the other party.

Leonie Huddy, SUNY distinguished professor and chair of the Department chair of Political Science.

"The rapid decline of local news has given way to more lopsided victories for officeholders and more uncontested races," he added. "In sum, the erosion of local news has serious and lasting effects on political accountability and democratic engagement. This panel offered an exciting look at an important topic that is reshaping American politics."

One plenary focused on new methods of conducting surveys and experiments, and explored flaws in recent models.

"The panelists discussed research innovations in designing studies to best get at the questions motivating our research," said Assistant Professor Drew Engelhardt. "We want the best quality data we can get, so the points made included new ways of asking questions in surveys and in thinking about what we can learn from the people willing to participate in surveys in contrast to those reluctant to do so."

Another plenary focused on American democracy and raised important considerations about the dual role of citizens and their political leaders. Presenters focused on political leaders and their critical role in disavowing misinformation and bringing attention to anti-democratic practices. Other presenters focused on the deep cultural, racial, and religious divisions within the American public and demonstrated how this decreases their appetite for democracy and increases their support for the violation of democratic norms.

Professor Eric Groenendyk chaired a panel discussion on partisanship. "This panel was made up of some of the most renowned partisanship experts in the world, each speaking about their ongoing research," he said. "The panelists then took questions from the audience, and we had a fantastic discussion, which touched on polarization, democracy, immigration, and the role of party cues as information sources in politics."

The panel featured Stony Brook alum Alexa Bankert, PhD '16, who is currently an associate professor of Political Science at the University of Georgia. Bankert is an expert in political psychology, and her research focuses on the nature and consequences of party identification in both two-party and multi-party systems.

Workshop sessions addressed a range of topics including communication effects on public opinion, gendered candidacy, racialized emotions, and more.

"The conference was a vibrant intellectual experience, bringing together scholars at the forefront of research on public opinion, democracy, race-relations, masculinity, and religion in contemporary American politics," said Huddy after the event. "The sessions were incredibly informative and brought participants up-to-date on findings in numerous key areas of public opinion research. Stony Brook faculty and PhD students played a central role throughout the conference and several participants referred explicitly to the leading role played by the SBU Department of Political Science in advancing political psychology research in the US and internationally."

- Robert Emproto