Recent elections in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom have provided surprising results. The election of Donald Trump as US president, the Coalition win this year in Australia, and the Brexit vote have generated considerable interest in changing voting patterns, the role of populism, the efficacy and ethics of data-driven campaigns, and the accuracy of political commentary and polling.
International campaign strategist and co-founder of the C|T Group, Mark Textor, and quantitative political scientists Professor Simon Jackman and Dr Shaun Ratcliff held a discussion about campaigns, the role of data in modern politics and populism in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Professor Simon Jackman
Professor Simon Jackman was Chief Executive Officer of the United States Studies Centre from April 2016 to May 2022. Between 1996 and 2016, he was a Professor of Political Science and Statistics at Stanford University. Jackman's teaching and research centres on public opinion, election campaigns, political participation, and electoral systems with special emphasis on American and Australian politics.
Dr Shaun Ratcliff
Honorary Associate, United States Studies Centre
Shaun Ratcliff is an Honorary Associate at the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He was previously a Lecturer in Political Science at the Centre with a research focus on using novel data sources to study the issue preferences and behaviour of political actors, including voters, interest groups and elites. This includes the role of political parties as interest aggregators and the influence of party coalitions on policy goals.
