NICHOLE M. BAUER
I am an Assistant Professor of Political Communication in the Department of Political Science & the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University. Before coming to LSU, I was an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Alabama. My research examines how strategic campaign communication affects voters decision-making especially when voters are considering non-traditional candidates.
More specifically, my research agenda focuses on identifying the psychological underpinnings motivating political attitudes and behaviors. I focus on examining the influence of the news
media, campaign strategies, and other political institutions on how
voters behave. I incorporate theories and methods from psychology,
public opinion, and mass communication into my research. My work
has been published in the Journal of Politics, Political Psychology, and
Political Behavior among other journals. Read more here about my current
research projects.
My book, The Qualifications Gap: Why Women Must Be
Better than Men To Run for Political Office forthcoming at Cambridge
University Press, examines the underlying biases that affects how voters
evaluate women during political campaigns. I show, using experiments, public opinion data and content analyses, that voters hold female candidates to a higher qualification standard compared to men. These higher qualification
standards make it much more difficult for women to win elections, and contributes to women's under-representation.
I teach courses on political psychology, public opinion, and gender
and politics. For more information about my courses please visit
the teaching page.
When I'm not teaching or researching I enjoy traveling, baking,
reading, sitting on the beach, and running marathons.