PSCI247 - Campaigns and Elections

This lecture course will teach students about American campaigns and elections, from the local level to the presidential level. We will cover as many topics as possible including: the nominating process, the general campaign, campaign strategy, turnout, campaign finance, the role of issues, the importance of the economy, the power of party identification, and the role of data analysis used by campaign professionals. We will also consider how these factors matter in terms of who wins the election. In addition to the literature on campaigns and election, this lecture will put minor focus on the most recent 2016 presidential election relative to what the literature would have predicted. After the first part of the course about presidential elections, the second part will focus on Congressional elections (and a bit about state and local elections). Lastly, the third part of the course will examine how data analytics that originated in political science are now being used by campaign practitioners to win elections.