Matthew M. SingerDepartment of Political Science
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Matthew M. SingerDepartment of Political Science
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I am a Ph.D. candidate in political science at Duke University specializing in comparative politics with a regional emphasis on Latin American politics. My primary research interest is on electoral behavior and the study of public opinion in new democracies. In the fall of 2007 I will be starting as a professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Connecticut.
In my dissertation research, I attempt to identify conditions that make economic factors salient to voters. I argue that factors that make voters vulnerable to national economic shifts or income shocks will enhance sociotropic and egotropic voting respectively while factors that insulate voters from these shocks will reduce economic voting. Hence I predict that poverty will be associated with higher levels of egotropic voting while wealth, nervousness about becoming unemployed, being informally employed, and being excluded from national welfare protections enhance the salience of sociotropc evaluations. I test these micro-level arguments using original survey data collected through fieldwork during the 2005-2006 electoral cycles in Argentina, Mexico, and Peru in addition to older surveys archived with the Roper Center and other sources. This research is being funded by the Ford Foundation, the Duke-UNC consortium for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the Graduate School and the Department of Political Science at Duke University, and the Walter Molano Endowment. Karen Remmer (chair), Herbert Kitschelt, and John Aldrich are on my committee. More information, an annotated outline, and chapters will be posted here as they are available or can be obtained via email.
My dissertation project is part of a larger research agenda on the processes that underlie electoral mechanisms of accountability and representation. Other working papers and publications on this topic, an extensive collection of district-level election returns, and information about my teaching and recently used syllabi are available through this website. With any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me by email.