Steven W. Webster
stevenwwebster.bsky.social
Steven W. Webster
@stevenwwebster.bsky.social
Political scientist and Director of the Center on American Politics at IU Bloomington.
Last—but certainly not least—is Sean Westwood, who is presenting work on LLMs and survey research.
October 31, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Rachel Porter is now presenting on bipartisanship and credible signals.
October 31, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Rachel Lienesch is up now. Her work focuses on the intersection of potentially conflictual identities. She examines how white Democrats view racial issues.
October 31, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Next up is Julia Azari, who is presenting work from her new book, “Backlash Presidents.”
October 31, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Third speaker is Josh McCrain, who is discussing the role of nationalized politics in school superintendent turnover.
October 31, 2025 at 2:39 PM
“How would Converse measure constraint today?”
October 31, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Up now is Marc Hetherington. Marc is presenting work from a book project on “rethinking conservatism.”
October 31, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Conceptualization of mass ideology, per Wagner.
October 31, 2025 at 12:45 PM
First up: Mike Wagner, presenting on ideology in America. His work, co-authored with Ted Carmines, argues for the presence of two dimensions of ideology.
October 31, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Calm before the storm! Today is the day: the inaugural IU Center on American Politics Conference.

Speakers: Mike Wagner, Marc Hetherington, Josh McCrain, myself, Julia Azari, Rachel Lienesch, Rachel Porter, Sean Westwood.

Follow this thread for key points from talks.

🧵
October 31, 2025 at 11:43 AM
First ever IU Center on American Politics conference is this week! Since it’s on Halloween, everyone gets treats.
October 26, 2025 at 2:10 PM
The fiercest squirrel hunter in all of Bloomington.
October 6, 2025 at 3:38 PM
One month to go! Very excited for this event.

www.iu-cap.com
September 29, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Paper 2 is Eric Hamilton, presenting on research focusing on depolarization and methodological advancements in the study of political rhetoric and “dysfunctional discourse”
September 11, 2025 at 3:31 PM
APSA panel 1: Affect and Emotions. First up is Fu and Lee, presenting on emotional reactions to foreign threats

Three experiments from Taiwan, Lithuania, and Latvia. Threats elicit anxiety, anger, and fear. Can be attenuated by presence of allies and a shared sense of national identity.
September 11, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Staring down the new semester.
August 9, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Excited to announce the speaker lineup for the first ever IU Center on American Politics conference! October 31, 2025, Bloomington, IN. Guests welcome!

More info available here: www.iu-cap.com/conference.h...
August 7, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Unbothered.
July 22, 2025 at 5:11 PM
A sad update: our colleague, Ted Carmines, has passed. He will be sorely missed.
July 12, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Trying to keep up with world events.
July 2, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Accepted at POQ: "You’re Making Us Look Bad: Can Partisan Embarrassment Dampen Partisanship and Polarization?" w/ Liz Connors and Taylor Carlson
elizabethchaseconnors.com/images/Embar...
June 30, 2025 at 2:22 PM
It’s not easy to work around here.
May 14, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Timeline cleanse.
March 4, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Last up is Scott Clifford talking about anger, aggression, and political participation.
March 3, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Next up is Beth Simas, who is talking about “negative ideological identity” and its connections to polarization.
March 3, 2025 at 9:06 PM