该领域强调了公众，机构和美国政治进程其他机制的作用。尽管教职员工在各个领域都有兴趣，但我们在实践中与代议制有着共同的关注点，我们追求旨在改善民主代议制和决策过程的研究议程。通过为期两个学期的《美国政治》实地研讨会以及第二年的高级主题课程，学生将遇到一系列核心问题和方法论。我们还鼓励学生以定量方法完成该系出色的课程。该部门为学生提供了独特的机会，可以通过舆论研究培训实验室（PORTL）来收集自己的数据，该课程是学生设计和进行原始调查的过程，而政治实验研究实验室（PERL）则可以为学生工作作为研究助理并设计专
This field emphasizes the role of the public, institutions, and other mechanisms of the American political process. Although faculty members have interests in a variety of areas, we share a normative concern with representation in practice, and we pursue research agendas aimed at improving democratic representation and in turn the policymaking process. Students encounter a core set of issues and methodologies through a two-semester field seminar in American Politics as well as a second-year set of advanced topics courses. We also encourage students to complete the department's outstanding sequence in quantitative methodology. The department offers unique opportunities for students to gather their own data through the Public Opinion Research Training Lab (PORTL), a course in which students design and field an original survey, and the Political Experiments Research Lab (PERL), for which students can work as research assistants and devise proprietary experiments. Major areas of emphasis in the department include public opinion, political psychology, political participation, political inequality, congressional reform, congressional parties, elections, and survey research methodology.