Shawn Patterson Jr., Ph.D.

Shawn Patterson, Jr. researches political parties and the organized interests that they represent, using elite interviews, exit surveys, and network analysis of campaign contributions to shed light on how political parties shape our democracy.

Shawn Patterson, Jr., is a research analyst at the Annenberg Public Policy Center.  At APPC, he works with the Institutions of Democracy project on a panel study of public opinion toward elections and democracy.

Previously he was an assistant professor in political science at Southern Oregon University and a postdoctoral research scholar at Vanderbilt’s Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions.

His personal research focuses on political parties in Congress and the organized interests that they represent, and has conducted elite interviews, exit surveys, and network analysis of campaign contributions to help shed light on how political parties shape our democracy. His research has been published in many journals, including The American Political Science Review, State Politics & Policy Quarterly, Electoral Studies, and the Journal of Theoretical Politics.