Katherine J. Cramer

Position title: Vilas Research Professor and Virginia Sapiro Professor of Political Science: American Politics | Political Methods

Email: kathy.cramer@wisc.edu

Address:
223 North Hall

Personal Website

Publications

Affiliated with Elections Research Ctr, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, LaFollette School of Public Affairs, IRP, Ctr for Integrated Agricultural Systems, WI Ctr for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies

Education:

Ph.D. in Political Science, University of Michigan, 2000

B.A. in Political Science and Journalism, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1994

Research Interests:

Civic Engagement, Civic and Liberal Education, Civic Society, Conservatism, Deliberation, Cultural Issues, Geography, Political Communication, Political Culture, Political Participation, Populism, Public Opinion, Race, Social Class, University Politics, Voting Behavior

Biography:

Katherine (Kathy) J. Cramer is the Virginia Sapiro Professor of Political Science and Vilas Research Professor at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Her work focuses on the ways that people make sense of politics and their place in it. She is known for her refreshing approach to the study of public opinion in which she listens to people. She is an expert in listening to residents of democracies to illuminate the way they understand public issues, their connections to government, and to each other.

Her innovative approach has led the way in understanding some of the most central issues affecting democracy in the United States and around the world. Her book, The Politics of Resentment (2016, University of Chicago Press), was one of the first to draw our attention to the rural/urban divide in contemporary politics and is widely considered one of the authoritative works on this topic.

Her recently released book with Larry Bartels, The Politics of Social Change: From the Sixties to the Present through the Eyes of a Generation (2026, University of Chicago Press), illuminates the deep roots of contemporary divides in the United States.

Kathy received her bachelor’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1994) and her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan (2000). She recently served as a co-chair of the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy of the American Academy of Arts & Science. Kathy is a close collaborator with the Center for Constructive Communication at the MIT Media Lab and its partner nonprofit, Cortico, and is one of the founders of the platform that Cortico has created and implemented with hundreds of community partners worldwide to listen to community members’ experiences, amplify underheard voices, inform public understanding, and drive policy and decision making to better outcomes.

She is a faculty affiliate of an array of interdisciplinary programs and departments at UW-Madison. She has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters.

Courses:

PS 515: Public Opinion Spring 2023

PS 410 Citenship, Democracy, and Difference Fall 2019-2020

PS 900 Public Opinion Spring 2017-2018

PS 201 Citizenship, Democracy, and Difference Fall 2016-2017

PS 201 Citizenship, Democracy, and Difference Fall 2015-2016

Awards:

2018

Selected as a Fellow of the Wisconsin Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Search Committee for Editor of American Journal of Political Science.

2016-2017

Kellett Mid-Career Award

Best Book Award, APSA Qualitative and Multi-Method Research section for The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker (Chicago University Press, 2016), is the recipient of the section’s award for the best book developing or applying qualitative methods published in 2016.

2015-2016

Named as a “Woman to Watch” by Brava Magazine.

2014-2015

Leon Epstein Faculty Fellow by the College of Letters and Science

2013-2014

Award for the Best Qualitative and Multi-Method submission to the American Political Science Review in 2012

2012-2013

Honored Instructor Award, UW-Madison Division of Housing

2010-2011

Dr. Brenda Pfaehler Award of Excellence, 2011, UW-Madison Office of Educational Opportunity