In addition to directing the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll, Redlawsk will teach in the Rutgers Department of Political Science. His teaching focuses on campaigns, elections, voting behavior and survey research.
”I am happy to be coming back to Rutgers after 10 interesting years away,” said Redlawsk. “The Rutgers-Eagleton Poll has a long and storied history of serving New Jersey. The opportunity to be part of Eagleton and the Department of Political Science at Rutgers was simply too good to pass up. My hope is to position the poll in its historical role as an important statewide resource, while considering the interesting possibilities and challenges that lie ahead for public opinion research.”
Redlawsk returns to Rutgers from the University of Iowa, where he founded and directed the Hawkeye Poll, regarded as a reliable, objective source of public opinion research in a state whose voters shape the direction of presidential races. The Hawkeye Poll garnered international attention in the run-up to the 2008 Iowa Caucuses, and Redlawsk was a frequent commentator in local and national media, and even in such international publications as The Economist and Financial Times.
As someone who also has been active in politics, Redlawsk brings hands-on knowledge of the process to his academic roles. “I have found that over the years my involvement in the political process has enhanced my ability to teach about political science and to carry out my research on voter decision-making,” noted Redlawsk. “But the move to Rutgers represents an important shift for me. While I am proud to say that my objectivity has never been questioned, I do not expect to have any public role in partisan politics while at Rutgers.”
Redlawsk plans to build from his experience with polling and with civic engagement projects to make the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll of service to the state and also an opportunity for students to learn firsthand the roles polling and public opinion play in the political process. He was the co-founder and director of the University of Iowa’s Obermann Graduate Institute on Engagement and the Academy and is also editor (with Tom Rice, Iowa) of Civic Service: Service-Learning with State and Local Government Partners. “Engaging students in the real world as part of their academic experience should be an important part of what we do, since it provides them with experiences against which to test theory,” said Redlawsk.
Redlawsk’s research focuses on the role of information in voter decision-making and on emotional responses to campaign information. He is writing a book, Why Iowa?: Sequential Elections, Reform and U.S. Presidential Nominations, with Caroline Tolbert (Iowa) and Todd Donovan (Western Washington University), scheduled to be published in 2010. Redlawsk’s other books include How Voters Decide: Information Processing in an Election Campaign (with Richard Lau, Rutgers), winner of the 2007 Alexander George Award for best Book in Political Psychology by the International Society of Political Psychology; and an edited volume, Feeling Politics: Emotion in Political Information Processing. His research has also been published in American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, and the American Journal of Political Science, as well as the journal Political Psychology. He currently chairs the Political Psychology Organized Section of the American Political Science Association and is co-editor-elect of the journal Political Psychology.
About the Eagleton Institute of Politics
For more than 50 years, the Eagleton Institute of Politics has explored state and national politics through research, education and public service, linking the study of politics with its day-to-day practice. The institute focuses attention on how contemporary political systems work, how they change and how they might work better.
About the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll
The Rutgers-Eagleton Poll, established in 1971, was one of the nation’s first university-based statewide public opinion polls. Eagleton’s faculty, centers and programs also specialize in the study of state legislatures and the state executive; women’s political participation; minority and immigrant political behavior; campaigns, elections and political parties; ethics; civic education and political engagement; young elected leaders; climate change, social policy and politics and New Jersey politics.
Media Contact: John Weingart
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E-mail: john.weingart@rutgers.edu