Featured Books

Hijacking the Agenda

Economic Power and Political Influence. New York. Russell Sage Foundation. 2021. With Chris Witko, Nate Kelly, and Jana Morgan.

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Winner of the 2022 Gladys M. Kammerer Award presented by the American Political Science Association to honor the best book published during the previous calendar year in the field of U.S. national policy.

Reviewed in PSQPerspectives on Politics, and New Political Science.

“To know who governs, we must know who controls the governing agenda. In this innovative book, four top political scientists show that the congressional agenda is disproportionately shaped by economic elites and the politicians most friendly to and funded by them. Combining sophisticated quantitative analysis and compelling case studies, Hijacking the Agenda sets a new standard for research on inequality and American democracy—and sounds a loud warning that all scholars and citizens should hear.”

JACOB HACKER, Stanley Resor Professor of Political Science, Yale University

Incarceration Nation

How the United States Became the Most Punitive Democracy in the World. New York. Cambridge University Press. 2016.

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Who Gets Represented

Edited with Christopher Wlezien. New York. Russell Sage Foundation. 2011.

Table of Contents//Contributors//Chapter 1//Replication Data for Chapter 1

You can preview the book here: WGR?

Read a review in Public Opinion Quarterly[PDF] [POQ]

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Mass Incarceration and the Judicial System

Enns, Peter K., Jaocb Harris, John Kenny, Andra Roescu, and Will Jennings. 2022. “Public Responsiveness to Declining Crime Rates in the United States and England and Wales.British Journal of Criminology. 62(5): 1093-1115. [BJC]  [PDF]

Enns, Peter K., Youngmin Yi, Megan Comfort, Alyssa Goldman, Hedwig Lee, Christopher Muller, Sara Wakefield, Emily A. Wang, and Christopher Wildeman. 2019. “What Percentage of Americans Have Ever Had a Family Member Incarcerated? Evidence from the Family History of Incarceration Survey (FamHIS).” Socius. Vol.5: 1-45. [Socius] [PDF]

Enns, Peter K. and Mark D. Ramirez. 2018. “Privatizing Punishment: Testing theories of public support for private prison and immigration detention facilities. Criminology. 56(3): 546-573. [Criminology] [PDF]

Enns, Peter K. and Patrick C. Wohlfarth. 2018. “Making Sense of the Supreme Court-Public Opinion Relationship.” In Handbook of Judicial Behavior. eds. Robert M. Howard and Kirk Randazzo. Routledge Press. [Ch.] [Preprint]

Enns, Peter K. 2016. Incarceration Nation: How the United States Became the Most Punitive Democracy in the World. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Enns, Peter K. and Delphia Shanks-Booth. 2015. “The Great Recession and State Criminal Justice Policy: Do Economic Hard Times Matter.” Russell Sage Foundation Great Recession Brief[RSF] [PDF]

Enns, Peter K. 2014. “The Public’s Increasing Punitiveness and Its Influence on Mass Incarceration in the United States.” American Journal of Political Science. 58(4): 857-872. [PDF] [AJPS]

Enns, Peter K. and Patrick Wohlfarth. 2013. “The Swing Justice.” Journal of Politics. 75(4): 1089-1107. [PDF] [JOP]

Casillas, Christopher, Peter K. Enns, and Patrick Wohlfarth. 2011. “How Public Opinion Constrains the U.S. Supreme Court.” The American Journal of Political Science 55(1): 74-88. [PDF] [AJPS]

Inequality and Representation

Enns, Peter K. 2022 “Reconsidering Representation: How the Same Data Can Produce Diverge about the Quality of Democratic Responsiveness in the United States.” in Contested Representation: Challenges, Shortcomings and Reforms. Eds. Claudia Landwehr, Thomas Saalfeld, and Armin Schafer. New York: Cambridge University Press. [Chapter] [pgs. 103-120] [pgs.121-128]

Schuldt, Jonathon P., Adam R. Pearson, Neil A. Lewis, Jr., Ashley Jardina, and Peter K. Enns. 2022. “Inequality and Misperceptions of Group Concerns Threaten the Integrity and Societal Impact of Science.” The ANNALS of the American Academic of Political and Social Science. 700(1): 195-207. [AAPSS] [PDF]

Witko, Christopher, Jana Morgan, Nathan J. Kelly, and Peter K. Enns. 2021. Hijacking the Agenda: Economic Power and Political Influence. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Enns, Peter K. 2015. “Comment on `Support for Redistribution in an Age of Rising Inequality’.” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. Spring: 406-417. [BPEA]  [PDF]

Enns, Peter K. 2015. “Relative Policy Support and Coincidental Representation.” Perspectives on Politics. 13(4): 1053-1064. [PDF] [Perspectives]

Enns, Peter K. 2015. “Reconsidering the Middle: A Reply to Martin Gilens.” Perspectives on Politics. 13(4): 1072-1074. [PDF] [Perspectives]

Enns, Peter K., Nate Kelly, Jana Morgan, Thomas Volscho, and Chris Witko. 2014. “Conditional Status Quo Bias and Top Income Shares: How U.S. Political Institutions Have Benefited the Rich. Journal of Politics. 76(2): 1-15. [PDF] [JOP]

Enns, Peter K. and Christopher Wlezien (Eds). Who Gets Represented? New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Kelly, Nathan J. and Peter K. Enns. 2010. “Inequality and the Dynamics of Public Opinion: The Self-Reinforcing Link Between Economic Inequality and Mass Preferences.” The American Journal of Political Science 54(4): 855-870. [PDF] [AJPS]

Public Opinion and Political Behavior

Alvarez, Eliana, Juan A. Bogliaccini, Peter K. Enns, Martin Opertti, and Rosario Queirolo. 2023. “Policy mood and thermostatic representation in developing democracies: taking the temperature in Uruguay” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties. Forthcoming.

Enns, Peter K., Rebekah Jones, Julianna Koch, and Julius Lagodny. 2023. “Introducing the U.S. Partisanship and Presidential Approval Dataset: Rejoinder to Berry, Fording, and Crofoot.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly. Forthcoming.

Enns, Peter K. and Julius Lagodny. 2023. “The U.S. Partisanship and Presidential Approval Dataset: Analyzing More than 1.1 Million Survey Respondents from 1948 to 2020” Roper Center for Public Opinion Research: https://doi.org/10.25940/ROPER-31120311. [PDF]

  • U.S. Partisanship and Presidential Approval Dataset available here.

Lagodny, Julius, Rebekah Jones, Julianna Koch, and Peter K. Enns. 2022. “A Validation and Extension of State-Level Policy Mood.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly. Forthcoming. [SPPQ]

  • Data available here.

Enns, Peter K. and Jake Rothschild. 2022. Do You Know Where Your Survey Data Come From” 3Streams. (May 2).

Enns, Peter K. and Jonathon P. Schuldt. 2021. “Rethinking Joe Biden’s `Resurgence'” in The 2020 Democratic Primary, eds. Luke Perry. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. [Chapter] [Pre-print]

Enns, Peter K. and Ashley Jardina. 2021 “Complicating the Role of White Racial Attitudes and Anti-Immigrant Sentiment in the 2016 US Presidential ElectionPublic Opinion Quarterly. 85(2): 539-570. [POQ] [PDF]

Enns, Peter K. and Julius Lagodny. 2021. “Using Election Forecasts to Understand the Potential Influence of Campaigns, Media, and the Law in U.S. Presidential ElectionsUniversity of Miami Law Review. 75(2): 509-546. [PDF] [UMLR]

Enns, Peter K. and Julius Lagodny. 2021. “Forecasting the 2020 Electoral College Winner: The State Presidential Approval/State Economy Model” PS: Political Science & Politics. 54(1): 81-85. [PDF] [PS] [Online Appendix]

Schuldt, Jonathon P., Peter K. Enns, Sara Konrath, and Norbert Schwarz. 2020. “Shifting views on `global warming’ and `climate change’ in the United States” Journal of Environmental Psychology. 69: 1-3. [JEP] [PDF]

Enns, Peter K. and Jose T Sanchez Gomez. 2019. “Economic Evaluations and Political Change in Chile, 1966 to 2018.” Public Opinion Quarterly. 83(3): 627–639. [POQ] [PDF]

Enns, Peter K., Julius Lagodny, and Jonathon P. Schuldt. 2017. “Understanding the 2016 US Presidential Polls: The Importance of Hidden Trump Supporters.” Statistics, Politics and Policy. 8(1):41-63. [SPP] [PDF]

Schuldt, Jonathon P., Peter K. Enns, and Victoria Cavaliere. 2017. “Does the label really matter? Evidence that the US public continues to doubt `global warming’ more than `climate change.'” Climatic Change. 143(1-2): 271-280. [CC] [PDF]

Enns, Peter K. and Jonathon P. Schuldt. 2016. “Did Moderates Help Elect Trump?” New York Times. Nov. 16. 

Enns, Peter K. and Jonathon P. Schuldt. 2016. “Are There Really Hidden Trump Voters?” New York Times. Nov. 7.    

Enns, Peter K. and Julianna Koch. 2015. “State Policy Mood: The Importance of Over-Time Dynamics. State Politics and Policy Quarterly. 15(4): 436-446. [PDF] [SPPQ]

Enns, Peter K. and Julianna Koch. 2013. “Public Opinion in the U.S. States: 1956 to 2010.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly. 13(3): 349-372. [PDF] [SPPQ]

Enns, Peter K. and Brian Richman. 2013. “Presidential Campaigns and the Fundamentals Reconsidered.” Journal of Politics 75(3): 803-820. [PDF] [JOP]

Enns, Peter K., Paul M. Kellstedt, and Gregory E. McAvoy. 2012. “The Consequences of Partisanship in Economic Perceptions.” Public Opinion Quarterly 76(2): 287-310. [PDF] [POQ]

Enns, Peter K. and Gregory E. McAvoy. 2012. “The Role of Partisanship in Aggregate Opinion.” Political Behavior 34(4): 627-651. [PDF] [PB]

McAvoy, Gregory E. and Peter K. Enns. 2010. “Using Approval of the President’s Handling of the Economy to Understand Who Polarizes and Why.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 40(3): 545-558. [PDF] [PSQ]

Enns, Peter K. and Paul M. Kellstedt. 2008. “Policy Mood and Political Sophistication: Why Everybody Moves Mood.” The British Journal of Political Science 38(3): 433-454. [PDF] [BJPS]

Time Series Analysis

Enns, Peter K., Carolina Moehlecke, and Christopher Wlezien. 2022. “Detecting true relationships in time series data with different orders of integration.” Political Science Research and Methods 10(4): 857-869. [PDF] [PSRM]

Enns, Peter K., Nathan J. Kelly, Takaaki Masaki, and Patrick C. Wohlfarth. 2017. “Moving Forward with Time Series Analysis.” Research and Politics 4(4): 1-7. [PDF] [R&P]

Enns, Peter K. and Christopher Wlezien. 2017. “Understanding Equation Balance in Time Series Regression.” The Political Methodololgist 24(2): 2-12. [PDF] [TPM]

Enns, Peter K., Nathan J. Kelly, Takaaki Masaki, and Patrick C. Wohlfarth. 2016. “Don’t Jettison the General Error Correction Model Just Yet: A Practical Guide to Avoiding Spurious Regression with the GECM.” Research and Politics 3(2):1-16. [PDF] [R&P]

Book Reviews

Enns, Peter K. 2020. “Book Review of: Mobilized by Injustice: Criminal Justice Contact, Political Participation, and Race.” Perspectives on Politics 18(4): 1214–1216. [Perspectives] [PDF]

Enns, Peter K. 2020. “Book Review of: Class Attitudes in America: Sympathy for the Poor, Resentment of the Rich, and Political Implications.” American Review of Politics 37(1): 142–145. [ARP] [PDF]

Enns, Peter K. 2015. “Book Review of: White-Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making.” Congress & The Presidency. 42(1): 116-118. [C&TP] [PDF]

Enns, Peter K. 2012. “Book Review of: Justices and Journalists: The U.S. Supreme Court and the Media. 127(1): 158–159. [PSQ] [PDF]

Enns, Peter K. 2008. “Book Review of: Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches.” Political Science Quarterly. 123(4): 687–689. [PSQ] [PDF]

Unpublished Papers

Enns, Peter K. “The Micro Foundations of Presidential Approval.

    • Winner of the Best Paper Award, for the best paper on elections, public opinion, and voting behavior delieverd at the 2007 APSA Annual Meeting.

Enns, Peter K., Takaaki Masaki, and Nathan J. Kelly  “Time Series Analysis and Spurious Regression: An Error Correction.

    • Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, New Orleans, LA. 2014.