Vincent Hutchings

Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Research Associate Professor, Center for Political Studies

Professor Hutchings' general interests include public opinion, elections, voting behavior, and African American politics. He recently published a book at Princeton University Press entitled Public Opinion and Democratic Accountability: How Citizens Learn About Politics, that focuses on how, and under what circumstances, citizens monitor (and consequently influence) their elected representative's voting behavior.

In addition to this project, Professor Hutchings also studies how the size of the African American constituency in congressional districts can influence legislative responsiveness to Black interests. The most recent product of this research has been published in the Journal of Politics.

Finally, he is interested in the ways that campaign communications can "prime" various group identities and subsequently affect candidate evaluations. This study examines how campaign communications can subtly--and not so subtly--prime voters' racial (and other group-based) attitudes and subsequently affect their political decisions. Research from this project, co-authored with Professor Nicholas Valentino and Ismail White, has been published in the American Political Science Review. Professor Hutchings and Professor Valentino are currently developing this project into a book-length manuscript.