Fields of Interest: Public Opinion and Voting Behavior, Environmental Politics, Congress, Political Parties

Professor Smith's research focuses on public opinion, elections, and environmental politics. In the area of environmental politics, he has been examining public opinion toward offshore oil development and nuclear power. He recently finished a book about public opinion on energy and environmental issues, Energy, the Environment, and Public Opinion. In the area of public opinion, he has investigated problems such as how both citizens and members of Congress organize their opinions about politics, how people learn about politics, and how their knowledge influences their opinions and their behavior. In the area of elections, he has investigated problems such as the nature of party realignment, how candidate quality affects voting decisions, and how voters respond to male and female candidates.

Professor Smith is currently working on two major projects. In the first, he is working with four graduate students in an exploration of the influence of public opinion, business interests, and environmental activitsts on energy policy during energy crises. In the second project, he is examining the implications of the eventual decline of world oil production (so-called "peak oil") for U.S. energy policy and climate change policy.

Professor Smith received his Ph.D. in political science from U.C. Berkeley in 1982. After teaching at Brandeis University and Columbia University, he joined the U.C. Santa Barbara Political Science Department in 1986. In 1995-96, he directed U.C. Santa Barbara's Washington Center. He is also affiliated with the Environmental Studies Program at UCSB.

Courses Taught:

PS 12	American Government and Politics
PS 151	Voting and Elections
PS 152	Political Parties
PS 155	Congress
PS 175	Environmental Politics
PS 205	Seminar on Measurement and Data Analysis in Political Research
PS 252	Seminar on Public Opinion and Participation
PS 254	Seminar on Congress
PS 294	Seminar on Politics of the Environment

Selected Recent Publications:
"Nibyism vs. Environmentalism in Energy Development Attitudes" (with Kristy Michaud and Juliet E. Carlisle). Environmental Politics, forthcoming 2007.

Dynamics of Democracy, 5th edition (with Peverill Squire, James M. Lindsay, and Cary R. Covington). Thomson, 2007.

"Postmaterialism vs. Egalitarianism as Predictors of Energy-related Attitutes" (with Juliet Carlisle), Environmental Politics 14 (2005): 527-40.

Energy, the Environment, and Public Opinion. Boulder, CO: Roman & Littlefield, 2002.

"The Electoral Fortunes of Women Candidates for Congress" (with Richard L. Fox), Political Research Quarterly 54 (2001), pp. 205-21.

"Democratic Values vs. Environmentalism?" In Richard Ellis and Fred Thompson, The Culture Wars by Other Means. University of British Columbia, Centre for Business and Government, 2000.

"The Other Side of the NIMBY Syndrome" (with Marisela Marquez), Society & Natural Resources 13 (2000), pp. 273-80.

"The Role of Candidate Sex in Voter Decision-Making" (with Richard Fox), Political Psychology 19 (1998), pp. 405-19.