POLS 212 - Campaigns and Elections: Strategy, Tactics, and Organizing to Win

One of the key foundational institutions in American democracy are free, fair, and competitive elections. While many elements of our government and society have a key role to play, this course focuses on the role of political campaigns (and the parties and interest groups at their center) in influencing the outcome of these critical periods of choice. We will focus on the strategies parties and candidates employ to win elections, the tactics they use to mobilize and persuade voters, and what separates effective campaigns from others. Key topics include voter mobilization, voter persuasion, fundraising, volunteer recruitment, messaging, polling, and media strategy. Political science has much to teach us about which of these are effective and which have been rendered obsolete by innovations in technology, infrastructure, and the knowledge of the psychology of voters and political elites. Alternate years.