Darren Davis
Snyder Family Mission Professor
Fields of Study: American Politics
Research and Teaching Interests: Public Opinion, Political Psychology, Political Behavior, Elections, Racial Politics, Methodology, Media and Communications
Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and by appointment
2028 Jenkins Nanovic Halls
574-631-5654
Lilly Presidential Fellow
Professor Davis’ research interests include most areas in public opinion and political behavior. A unifying theme running through much of his research is a concern for identifying the social psychological motivations underlying political attitudes and behavior. This approach has been applied to specific research areas, including political tolerance, implicit racial attitudes, the role of threat and anxiety in political behavior, public reactions to terrorism, social desirability, the measurement of political and social attitudes, racism and racial politics, and the political behavior of African Americans.
Professor Davis is co-author of a forthcoming Cambridge University Press book, Perseverance in the Parish? Religious Attitudes from a Black Catholic Perspective. Based on the first national survey of African American Catholics, this book explores the perceptions of racism and racial experiences in the Catholic Church.
His other book, Negative Liberty: Public Opinion and the Terrorist Attacks on America, examines the role of threat perceptions on the tradeoffs between civil liberties and security, political tolerance, and ideas of citizenship
His research has been published in the most prestigious journals in the discipline, such as The American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly, Political Research Quarterly, Political Behavior, Social Science Quarterly, and Political Behavior.
He also served on the editorial boards of the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Political Research Quarterly.
Professor has just recently completed two-terms as the Associate Vice President for Research in which he was responsible for research compliance; ethical conduct of research, Institutional Review Board (IRB), Responsible Conduct of Research, and Research Misconduct.
He was awarded the Emerging Scholar Award by Public Opinion and Elections Section of the American Political Science Association, which acknowledges the top scholar within 10 years of Ph.D.