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Mark Smith (Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1997) is an associate professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Washington. He is a specialist in American politics with research interests in public opinion, interest groups, political communication, political economy, and public policy. His first book, American Business and Political Power: Public Opinion, Elections, and Democracy (University of Chicago Press, 2000) won the Leon Epstein award for outstanding contributions to the study of political organizations and parties. His second book is The Right Talk: How Conservatives Transformed the Great Society into the Economic Society (Princeton University Press, 2007). In explaining the rightward turn in American politics over the last three decades, the book documents the heightened use of economic reasoning by politicians and other political actors to justify and advocate policy proposals. Smith has published articles in the American Journal of Political Science and the Journal of Politics on political parties in the American states, the structural power of business, the effects of ballot initiatives on voter turnout, and the ways in which ballot initiatives can stimulate citizen engagement in politics. Smith’s current project examines the “culture war” in America, showing that malleability of Biblical interpretations makes religion far less divisive politically than is commonly assumed. Smith teaches courses on American political culture, interest groups, public opinion, and research design.
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