Robert Shapiro
Wallace S. Sayre Professor of Government and Professor of International and Public Affairs
Personal Details
Robert Y. Shapiro is a professor and former chair of the Department of Political Science at Columbia University, and he served as acting director of Columbia’s Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP) during 2008–2009. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received a Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award in 2012 and in 2010 the Outstanding Achievement Award of the New York Chapter of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (NYAAPOR).
Shapiro specializes in American politics with research and teaching interests in public opinion, policymaking, political leadership, the mass media, and applications of statistical methods. He has taught at Columbia since 1982 after receiving his degree and serving as a study director at the National Opinion Research Center (University of Chicago).
He is co-author of The Rational Public: Fifty Years of Trends in Americans' Policy Preferences, with Benjamin Page (University of Chicago Press, 1992) and Politicians Don't Pander: Political Manipulation and the Loss of Democratic Responsiveness, with Lawrence Jacobs (University of Chicago Press, 2000). His most recent books are The Oxford Handbook of American Public Opinion and the Media, edited with Lawrence R. Jacobs (Oxford University Press, 2011) and Selling Fear: Counterterrorism, the Media, and Public Opinion, with Brigittte L. Nacos and Yaeli Bloch-Elkon (University of Chicago Press, 2011). He is also coauthor or coeditor of several other books and has published numerous articles in major academic journals.
Shapiro served for many years as editor of Public Opinion Quarterly’s "The Polls–Trends" section, and is currently chair of the journal’s Advisory Committee. He also serves on the editorial boards of Political Science Quarterly, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Critical Review, and is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. He has been President of NYAAPOR and Councilor-at-Large in national AAPOR.
His current research examines partisan polarization and ideological politics in the United States, as well as other topics concerned with public opinion and policymaking.
Education
- PhD in Political Science, University of Chicago
- MA in Policy Studies, University of Chicago
- MA in Political Science, University of Chicago
- BS in Political Science, MIT
Honors and Awards
- Vice President, Academy of Political Science
- Bruce E. Gronbeck Political Communication Research Book Award, 2014
- Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award, Columbia University, 2012
- Outstanding Achievement Award, New York Chapter, American Association for Public Opinion Research (NYAAPOR), 2010
Research And Publications
In The Media
[en español] Americans disagree whether the January 6 attack on Congress was a threat to democracy, or a defense of it. Robert Shapiro says people's opinions are driving their perceptions of reality, which presents a real problem.
Robert Shapiro joined The Background Briefing with Ian Masters to discuss how the perception persists that the Biden presidency is in trouble when, given his slim majority, he is succeeding in his ambitious agenda and improving the economy.
Robert Shapiro comments on the pessimism about Democratic prospects in 2022 and the anxiety about the 2024 presidential election.
Looking ahead to next year, Robert Shapiro says it is unlikely that the outcome of Virginia's race will impact the extent to which Kamala Harris may campaign on behalf of Democrats running for office in 2022.
Thomas B. Edsall writes on Eric Adams's across-the-board success with working-class voters of all races and ethnicities in the Democratic primary, quoting Robert Shapiro: “Black voters are a moderating force and should tell the party to focus on economic, health care, and equality issues, and less on culture war issues.”