Christopher Wlezien is Professor of Political Science at Temple University. He joined the faculty from Oxford University, where he was Reader of Comparative Government and a Fellow of Nuffield College. While at Oxford, he co-founded the ESRC-funded Oxford Spring School in Quantitative Methods for Social Research. Previously, he taught at the University of Houston, where he was founding director of the Institute for the Study of Political Economy. He has held visiting positions at Columbia University, the Juan March Institute (Madrid), McGill University (Montreal), and Sciences Po (Paris). He received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1989 and his B.A. from Saint Xavier College in 1984.

His primary, ongoing research develops a “thermostatic” model of public opinion and policy and examines the dynamic interrelationships between preferences for spending and budgetary policy. A cross-national comparative investigation focusing on the US, the UK, and Canada, broadly entitled “Degrees of Democracy,” is in progress. His other major area of research, on “The Timeline of Election Campaigns,” addresses the evolution of voter preferences over the course of the election cycle. Both projects have been supported by grants from the US National Science Foundation and both are the subjects of separate books that currently are in the works. He is co-editor of the international Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties.

Wlezien also does research forecasting elections. His current work on the subject challenges the commonly-held assumption that election prediction markets are better predictors than pre-election polls. Here's one paper that is forthcoming in Public Opinion Quarterly. 

Three most recent publications:

“On the Limits to Inequality in Representation,” with Stuart Soroka.  PS: Political Science and Politics, vol 41, 2008

“Partisan Preferences, Electoral Prospects, and Economic Expectations,” with Matthew Ladner. Comparative Political Studies, vol. 40, 2007.