Facilitating research on critical issues in American democracy and encouraging Notre Dame students’ engagement in civic and political life.
The Rooney Center’s central mission is to better understand American democracy, to share that understanding with the broader society, and to instill that knowledge in the next generation of American citizens and leaders. As the U.S. experiences rising polarization, misinformation, and distrust in democratic institutions, that mission is more important than ever.”
— Matthew E.K. Hall, Director of the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy and David A. Potenziani Memorial College Professor of Constitutional Studies
Public Scholarship
Over the past year, Rooney Center faculty shared their research through op-eds and interviews with several major media outlets.
David E. Campbell, Geoffrey Layman, and John Green, Harvard’s Atheist Chaplain: It’s Another Sign of America’s Growing Secularism. USA Today, September 19, 2021.
David E. Campbell was interviewed for NBC News’ “Meet the Press Reports,” during which he spoke about Trump and evangelical Christian voters. Watch the segment here (7:11-7:55).
Matthew E.K. Hall and Francis Rooney, Jan 6, 2025: The Day Democracy Dies?. The Hill, January 5, 2022.
Matthew E.K. Hall was interviewed for a piece on Chicago’s WBBM News Radio highling the January 6th, 2025 Project. Read the story or listen to the on-air segment.
Benjamin Radcliff, Trusting societes are overall happier – a happiness expert explains why. The Conversation, May 11, 2022.
Professional Honors
The University of Notre Dame honored two Rooney Center faculty with endowed chairs: Darren Davis was named the Snyder Family Mission Professor of Political Science and Dianne Pinderhughes was named the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science.
Dianne Pinderhughes was elected as President of the International Political Science Association. Read more here.
Ricardo Ramirez was elected as President of the Western Political Science Association.
Research Highlights
Grants & Honors
Erin Rossiter won the APSA Experimental Research Section’s Best Dissertation Award for dissertations completed in 2021. Erin’s dissertation is a collection of three papers: “Measuring Agenda Setting in Interactive Political Communication,” “The Consequences of Interparty Conversation on Outparty Affect and Stereotypes,” and “Improving Balance in Experiments with Social Interaction with Blocked Cluster Designs.”
Jeffrey Harden received a collaborative research grant from the National Institute of Health. With Sean Moore and Alex Perkins in Biological Sciences and Christopher Cronin in Economics, Harden will assess the impact of COVID-19 interventions on human mobility and SARS CoV-2 virus transmission dynamics in the United States.
Jeffrey Harden won the Early Career Achievement Award from the APSA State Politics and Policy Section. This award is given to the top scholar in the field of State Politics and Policy who is within 10 years of earning a Ph.D. Read more here.
David Cortez’s “Latinxs in La Migra: Why they Join and Why it Matters” (Political Research Quarterly 2020) was chosen by the Western Political Science Association for this year's PRQ Best Paper Award.
Recent Research Books & Articles
Laura S. Antkowiak, Levi G. Allen**, and Geoffrey C. Layman, 2021. “Coping with Cross-Pressures: The Seamless Garment in Catholic Political Behavior.” Political Psychology 42(S1). Read the ND News write-up here.
Erin Rossiter, 2021. “Measuring Agenda Setting in Interactive Political Communication.” American Journal of Political Science 66(2).
Geoffrey C. Layman, David E. Campbell, John C. Green, and Nathanael Gratias Sumaktoyo, 2021. “Secularism and American Political Behavior.” Public Opinion Quarterly 85(1).
Matthew Dahl, Devan N. Patel, and Matthew E.K. Hall, 2021. “The Dogma Within? Examining Religious Bias in Private Title VII Claims.” Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 18(4).
Levi G. Allen**, 2022. “Racial Attitudes and Political Preferences Among Black and White Evangelicals.” Politics and Religion.
Darren W. Davis and Davic C. Wilson published Racial Resentment in the Political Mind (University of Chicago Press, 2022). Read the ND News piece here.
Darren W. Davis and David C. Wilson, 2022. “The Prospect of Antiracism: Racial Resentment and Resistance to Change.” Public Opinion Quarterly.
** graduate student
New Initiative: January 6th, 2025 Project
The Rooney Center launched the January 6th, 2025 Project, a multi-year project to better understand the failing health of U.S. democracy and how to save it. The project features collaborations with top scholars in Political Science from universities across the nation. Read more about the project here.
Major Events
The Rooney Center partners with faculty, centers and institutes across campus to offer events to the Notre Dame community to help them make sense of current events.
August 27, 2021: The Rooney Center in collaboration with the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government hosted a book panel discussing David E. Campbell and Geoffrey C. Layman’s book Secular Surge: A New Fault Line in American Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2020). Guest speakers Scott Appleby, Eileen M. Hunt, and Andrew R. Lewis joined the panel.
October 14, 2021: The Rooney Center and Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion presented a discussion of Secular Surge: A New Fault Line in American Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2020). Faculty authors David E. Campbell and Geoffrey C. Layman were joined by co-author John Green (University of Akron) and guests Rachel Deitch (The American Humanity Association), Emma Green (The Atlantic) and Maura Policelli (Keough School DC Office). The event took place at the Keough School of Global Affairs’ Washington D.C. office. View the recording here.
November 19, 2021: The Rooney Center hosted a panel discussion on “Identity and the 2020 Election” with faculty speakers David E. Campbell, Luis Fraga, Christina Wolbrecht, Darren W. Davis, and Geoffrey C. Layman.
April 1, 2022: The Rooney Center in collaboration with the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government hosted a book panel discussing Darren W. Davis and David C. Wilson’s book Racial Resentment in the Political Mind (University of Chicago Press, 2022). Guest speakers Vincent Hutchings and Mark Peffley joined the panel.
In April 2022, the Rooney Center was featured in a two day symposium hosted by Fr. John Jenkins. Robert Costa, the Chief Election & Campaign Correspondent for CBS News, moderated a panel with Representative Clyburn, Representative Kinzinger, Ambassador Francis Rooney, and Rooney Center Director Matt Hall to reflect on the events of January 6, 2021, the state of American democracy and policies to reinforce our democratic institutions.
Research Workshops
The Rooney Center regularly holds research workshops for faculty, graduate students and distinguished scholars present and receive feedback on their work in progress. This year, the Center hosted emerging scholars including:
- Jennifer Wolak, Michigan State University: “Gender Gaps in Political Engagement Across Generations.”
- Lisa Argyle, Brigham Young University: “Too Old for This? Age and Interpersonal Political Persuasion.”
- James N. Druckman, Northwestern University: “(Affective) Polarization in America: When It Matters Politically and What It Means for Democracy.”
- Julian Wamble, George Washington University: “We Choose You: Investigating Black Voter Candidate Preference and Selection.”
Outstanding Students
Levi G. Allen
Levi G. Allen won a grant from the APSA Religion & Politics section to conduct his dissertation research, “Political Heretics?: Why Voters Defect in Polarized America.”
Romelia M. Solano
Romelia M. Solano was one of six awardees in the field of Political Science to receive a Ford Foundation Fellowship from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. The fellowship will support Romelia’s dissertation, “Dignity Politics: Detention and Democracy in the U.S.” Read the press release here.
John Boland and Anna Rask
Class of ’22 political science majors John Boland and Anna Rask were each awarded the John Roos Prize, recognizing the best undergraduate senior theses in the field of American Politics. Boland’s thesis, entitled “Potawatomi Relations with British and American Governance,” examined the differences in British and American Indian policy from 1754 to 1838 and how various Potawatomi villages resisted removal. Rask’s thesis, “Anti-Intellectualism in Republican Politics,” analyzed anti-intellectualism in elite Republican rhetoric over the last 50 years and examined how current voters respond to such rhetoric. Read more about senior thesis projects in Political Science here.
Undergraduate Programming
Washington Program
The Washington Program welcomed 36 students to the capital district this year. The students had a mix of in-person, remote, and hybrid internships with a variety of organizations including Hill offices, think tanks, NGOs, law firms and lobbying organizations. Despite Covid challenges, the students were still able to take in D.C., including chance encounters with Vice President Harris, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, and Senator Warnock, as well as attending the nomination hearings of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. The Washington Program continued to partner with Rev. Dr. Hyde of Veritas Tours for a historical architecture and walking tour of the National Mall.
Political Science major Rachel Stockford said her Washington Program semester was an incredible learning experience, especially her policy internship at Cornerstone Government Affairs, which led to a summer internship on Capitol Hill.
Being able to see the interaction between the private sector and the government and learning from employees at Cornerstone about their journeys in DC has been so valuable.”
Hesburgh Program in Public Service
The Hesburgh Program in Public Service hosted Senator Chris Coons in a conversation with students about bipartisanship, his experience in the Senate, and current policy debates. The program also hosted ND alum Representative Pat Fallon for a similar Q & A event with students.
In summer 2022, the program provided over $32,000 of financial support to students with unpaid or low-paid internships in public policy and public service positions, including with members of Congress, client services divisions of national law firms, and local law firms and legal clinics.