Matthew Levendusky

Matthew S. Levendusky is an American political scientist. He is the author of The Partisan Sort: How Liberals Became Democrats and Conservatives Became Republicans (2009).^[1] His work has primarily focused on explaining political polarization, but also includes media analyses and topics related to public opinion and American foreign policy. Levendusky is currently assistant professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.^[2]

Background

Levendusky was raised in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His brother, Michael Levendusky, was a collegiate hockey player at Western Michigan University.^[3] In high school, Levendusky participated on his high school speech and debate team and was runner-up for the Pennsylvania state championship.^{[citation needed]} He attended Pennsylvania State University and graduated with a degree in political science in 2001. While in college he was a member of the Penn State collegiate policy debate team^[4] and did notable work for professors in the political science department.^[5] After graduating, he entered the political science PhD program at Stanford University. He was a runner-up for a National Science Foundation grant to attend Stanford.^[6]

Graduate Education

Levendusky obtained a Ph.D. in political science at Stanford University. His first article, Measuring District Level Partisanship with Implications for the Analysis of U.S. Elections,^[7] was published in 2008 with Jeremy Pope and Simon D. Jackman in the Journal of Politics. Levendusky also contributed book chapters to several edited volumes on partisanship and polarization. These pieces, co-authored with his advisers from Stanford, focused on differences between political preferences among elites and mainstream voters, as well as the foundations of political choices by voters.^[8] After completing his dissertation in 2006, Levendusky spent a year as a postdoctoral research associate at Yale University in the Center for the Study of American Politics in the Institution for Social and Policy Studies.

Levendusky began working at the University of Pennsylvania as an assistant professor in the political science department in 2007.

The Partisan Sort

The Partisan Sort: How Liberals Became Democrats and Conservatives Became Republicans, is a book on the phenomenon of growing political polarization in the United States. Levendusky finds that while a small number have become more extreme over time, most contemporary Americans maintain relatively similar views to those in previous generations. What has changed is the way people sort themselves into parties. Previously, many liberals identified as Republicans and many conservatives identified as Democrats. More recently, the parties have become more ideologically pure and encouraged people to think of themselves in that way as well. Thus, voters have been "sorting" into Democrats and Republicans and eliminated much of the middle ground that existed in previous generations.^[9]

Current Research

Levendusky's current research is on political polarization; and political information and voters in different types of states. He has started a large-scale project on partisan media and how it influences the general public. He is also writing a series of papers at the intersection of public opinion, American politics, and American foreign policy, focusing on issues such as how reinstating the draft in the United States might influence public support for going to war.

Levendusky currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Notes

1. ^ The Partisan Sort: How Liberals Became Democrats and Conservatives Became Republicans (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2009)
2. ^ Matthew S. Levendusky's Homepage, University of Pennsylvania, Accessed April 28, 2011. http://www.polisci.upenn.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=185&Itemid=26
3. ^ Michael Levendusky. Western Michigan University Hockey Team. Accessed April 28, 2011. http://www.wmubroncos.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4600&ATCLID=1179978
4. ^ King's College Debate Tournament Results, 1999. Accessed April 28, 2011. http://debate.uvm.edu/broadcast/news/kings.html
5. ^ Advocacy and Public Policy Making Website Thanks, Accessed April 28, 2011. http://lobby.la.psu.edu/thanks.htm
6. ^ National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Award List, 2002. Accessed April 28, 2011. http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/gradawards/gf02rhm.txt
7. ^ Matthew S. Levendusky, Jeremy Pope, and Simon D. Jackman, "Measuring District-Level Partisanship with Implications for the Analysis of U.S. Elections" Journal of Politics Vol. 70, No. 03 (2008), pp. 736-753
8. ^ Matthew Levendusky, CV, Accessed April 28, 2011. http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~mleven/Matt%20Levendusky%20/CV_files/cv.pdf
9. ^ Press Page for The Partisan Sort: How Liberals Became Democrats and Conservatives Became Republicans'. Accessed April 28, 2011. http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo8212972.html