The study of American politics at the University of Michigan includes a storied past and a vibrant present. From its roots in the survey research of Campbell, Converse, Miller, and Stokes and as a leading force in the behavioral revolution in political science, the department has grown to encompass many approaches to and views on the study of politics in the United States. The work of many of our faculty members is tied to the scientific study of domestic politics through rigorous quantitative and qualitative methods.
Today, the research of our diverse faculty spans the study of national and local political institutions, the mass media, public opinion, elections and campaigns, political participation, gender, race, public policy and administration, interest groups and political parties, and constitutional law. Teaching and research in the department also touch on various essential policy issues in American society, including health care, economic development, immigration, poverty, crime, education, discrimination and affirmative action, civil rights, the environment, taxation, globalization, terrorism, and war.
