David Macdonald 

My name is David Macdonald. I am currently an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida. I received my Ph.D. in political science in 2020 from Florida State University.

 

My research agenda is broadly in the area of American politics, public opinion, and political behavior with a particular interest in the question of "why ordinary people support the policies, parties, and candidates that they do?" My dissertation examines why American public opinion has failed to shift more in favor of redistribution despite decades of high, and rising economic inequality. My book Labor Unions and American Mass Politics (forthcoming with SUNY Press in April, 2026) examines how labor unions, broadly conceived, shape party loyalties in the United States.

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My research has been published or is forthcoming in American Politics Research, Electoral Studies, Political Behavior, Political Research Quarterly, Political Psychology, Politics & Gender, Public Opinion Quarterly, Political Science Research and Methods, Politics, Groups, and Identities, Social Science Quarterly, and the British Journal of Political Science. I have also taught various undergraduate and graduate courses in American politics and research methods.