Elections Conference
The 2004 American
Presidential Election: Voter
Decision-Making in a Complex World
Tuesday,
November 9 2004
Our aim for the all-day conference is to explore how Americans evaluated the presidential candidates this year, how the campaign affected voters’ preferences, why some citizens decided to vote and others decided to abstain, what considerations were most powerful in shaping their candidate preferences, how this year’s campaign and election differ from those in the past, and related topics. The day will begin with presentations from the chief pollsters for the two presidential candidates—Jan van Lohuizen from the Bush campaign and Mark Mellman from the Kerry campaign. Subsequent presentations will be made by survey researchers from some of the nation’s leading news media and an array of Stanford researchers who are each carrying out their own studies of the campaign.
As many have observed, the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election promises to be a significant turning point for the nation and for analysts of American politics, as the electorate chooses its next leader in the face of an unprecedented cacophony of complex signals about the state of the country and its future. With this in mind, I am especially pleased that our new Institute can serve a helpful role in exploring the current political landscape. This gathering of accomplished analysts promises to yield a range and depth of understanding not only of this election campaign and its outcome but also of the future of American politics.
Through the generous support of the Kaiser family foundation, the conference is available via webcast and transcripts. Please visit the Kaiser network webpage to view a webcast of the conference and to download related conference materials. You may also directly download the transcripts and presentation slides from the conference below.
Conference Transcripts
Presentation Slides
Morris Fiorina,Wendt Family Professor of Political Science and Hoover Senior Fellow
James Fishkin, Peck Professor of Communication and Director of the Center for Deliberative Democracy
Kathleen Frankovic, Director of Surveys, CBS News
Shanto Iyengar, Chandler Professor of Communication, Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Political Communication Lab
Jon Krosnick, Professor of Communication, Political Science, and Psychology
Gary Langer, Director of Polling, ABC
Douglas Rivers, Professor of Political Science and Founder of Knowledge Networks and Polimetrix, Inc.
Paul Sniderman, Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr. Professor of Public Policy
Jan Van Lohuizen, Pollster for the Bush Campaign
