Bio
Welcome! I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Yale University. The primary goal of my research agenda is to better understand the social-psychology of political preference formation in American politics. To this end, my research agenda consists of two primary lines of research. First, I explore how elite rhetoric shapes mass political preferences. In particular, my dissertation research develops and tests a theory for how elite populist appeals increase mass support for democratic erosion. Second, I study how information affects political preferences. For example, my prior research assesses how exposure to information about fossil fuel divestment affects climate policy preferences. My research agenda employes a mixed-methods approach, including economic games, machine learning, observational data analysis, qualitative content analysis, and survey experiments.
My research is published in American Politics Research, Environmental Politics and the Yale Journal of International Affairs. I have presented my research at a wide range of organizations, including the American Political Science Association, Harvard University, and Yale University. Funding for my research has been provided by the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, and other organizations. At Yale, I am a lead editor for the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics as well as a content editor for the Yale Journal of International Affairs.
I received a Bachelor’s of Business Administration at William and Mary as well as a Master’s of Public Administration at the University of Pennsylvania. Before starting the PhD program at Yale, I completed a Leadership Development Program at a Fortune 500 company called Amerigroup (now part of Elevance Health). I also served as the Faculty of Health Sciences Program Coordinator and Office of Undergraduate Studies Business Manager at Virginia Tech.
Contact:
Paul.Lendway@yale.edu