The American National Election Studies at 75: Their Past, Present, and Future

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Description

The American National Election Studies, which conducted their first survey in 1948, turned 75 years old in 2023. In celebration of the 75th anniversary of the ANES, this roundtable features past and present principal investigators of the ANES along with longtime ANES Board members and contributors to the project. The participants will reflect on the history of the ANES surveys, the substantive and methodological evolution of the ANES surveys, how the ANES has adapted as American politics and the academic study of voting behavior and public opinion have changed, and how the ANES should respond to the most recent developments in American electoral politics and in how political scientists study American political behavior. Through this discussion, the roundtable will shed light on how the ANES has (and has not) contributed to our understanding of public opinion and voting behavior in the U.S. and around the world.

Sub Unit

• Division 36: Elections and Voting Behavior

Chair

• Geoffrey C. Layman University of Notre Dame

Presenters

• John H. Aldrich Duke University

• Diana C. Mutz University of Pennsylvania

• Virginia Sapiro Boston University

• Merrill Merrill Shanks University of California, Berkeley

• Nicholas A. Valentino University of Michigan, Ann Arbor