Scholar and author lectures October 13
on the myth of a polarized electorate
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Professor Morris P. Fiorina, one of the nation's best known scholars of American politics, will give a talk at Middlebury College on Friday, Oct. 13, titled "Polarized Elites, Moderate Voters: The Great Disconnect in American Politics."
The talk will be held in Room 216 of McCardell Bicentennial Hall (on Route 125) at 4:30 p.m., and is open to the public. Refreshments will be available.
The general public is often portrayed as bitterly divided on social, political and economic issues. In his talk, Professor Fiorina will challenge this conventional wisdom by showing that most Americans stand in the middle of the political landscape, preferring centrist candidates and holding moderate positions on charged cultural issues. Fiorina argues that it is the political parties, political activists and the media that have ignored this fact and distorted public perceptions.
Fiorina is the Wendt Family Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He previously taught at Harvard and CalTech. His most recent book is "Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America," written with Samuel J. Abrams of Harvard and Jeremy C. Pope of Brigham Young University.
Friday's event is sponsored by the political science department at Middlebury. For more information, contact Professor Matthew J. Dickinson via e-mail at dickinso@middlebury.edu or at 802-443-3253.