About the series
The series is the University of Michigan’s preeminent lecture series on American Electoral Politics. The Series honors the legacy of CPS Founder Warren Miller and former CPS and ISR Director Philip Converse.
2026 Miller-Converse Lecture
States of Distrust: Science and Politics in America
The relationship between science and politics is inevitably fraught. This is particularly the case in the United States in the 21st century: partisans are more polarized in their trust in scientists than in virtually any other societal institution. James Druckman identifies the origins and consequences of that polarization. Polarized scientific trust disincentivizes partisans from compromising with one another and prompts them to politicize science. It also generates massive discoordination between states, with severe consequences for public goods provision (particularly with regard to public health). Druckman offers a path forward, for building trust in scientists with the goal of reducing polarization and de-politicizing science.
James N. Druckman is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester. He previously was the Payson S. Wild Professor and a Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. He is also an Honorary Professor of Political Science at Aarhus University in Denmark. Druckman has published approximately 200 articles and book chapters in political science, communication, economics, science, and psychology journals. He has authored, co-authored, or co-edited seven books. His recent books include Partisan Hostility and American Democracy: Explaining Political Divides (University of Chicago Press, 2024), Equality Unfulfilled: How Title IX’s Policy Design Undermines Change to College Sports (Cambridge University Press, 2023), and Experimental Thinking: A Primer on Social Science Experiments (Cambridge University Press, 2022).
The 2026 lecture will be April 9, 2026, 4 – 5:30 p.m., at ISR-Thompson Room 1430. You can also join the Miller-Converse Lecture on Zoom with passcode 825206.
Past lectures in this series
James L. Gibson, March 21, 2024
Democracy’s Destruction? The 2020 Election, Trump’s Insurrection, and the Strength of America’s Political Institutions
Watch a recording of the lecture
Diana Mutz, April 11, 2019
“Winners and Losers: The Psychology of Foreign Trade”
Watch a recording of the lecture
Read a summary of the lecture in the CPS Blog
Kathleen Hall Jamieson, April 14, 2016
“Can Political Advertising Perfert Policy-Making?”
View photos of the event
Christopher Achen, April 18, 2013
“From Lost to Found: The Miller-Stokes Book Manuscript and its Implications for Democratic Theory”
View photos of the event
Sir Roger Jowell, April 29, 2010
“Comparing National Characteristics: Pitfalls and Partial Solutions”
Thomas E. Mann, April 19, 2007
“Have the Midterm Elections Begun to Mend the Broken Branch?”
David Sears, April 1, 2004
“On Acorns and Oaks: Revisiting the Partisan Realignment of the White South.”
James A. Stimson, April 16, 2001
“Revisiting the Diamond: Representation in a Systems Perspective.”
M. Kent Jennings, April 21, 1998
“Political Responses to Pain and Loss.”
Stanley Feldman, March 23, 2023
Elections, Authoritarianism, Partisan Polarization in the US”
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Henry Brady, April 12, 2018
“Changing Cleavages and Coalitions in American Politics 1972-2016: The Rise of Polarization and Populism”
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Jack Citrin, April 9, 2015
“Identities and Identifications in American Public Opinion”
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A Memorial Service for Phil Converse was held on Friday, April 10, 2015 from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm in the Michigan Union Ballroom.
Lawrence Bobo, April 19, 2012
“When Surveys Get it Right: Understanding Race in America”
Gary King, April 9, 2009
“The Changing Evidence Base of Social Science Research”
Gary C. Jacobson, April 6, 2006
“A Divider, Not A Uniter: George W. Bush and the American People.”
Sidney Verba, April 10, 2003
“Political Equality: Why do we want it? Why won’t we get it?”
Virginia Sapiro, April 25, 2000
“So What’s to Like (or Dislike) about American Political Parties? Images in the Mass Public,1952-1996.”
John Zaller, April 14, 1997
“A Theory of the Media”
Ken Kollman, Robert Franzese, and Pauline Jones, April 8, 2021
“Can Democracy Survive?”
Watch a recording of the roundtable
Leonie Huddy, March 30, 2017
“Beyond the Ballot Box: Partisan Identity and Political Action”
Donald Kinder, April 10, 2014
“Belief Systems Turns Fifty”
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Adam Berinsky, Kathy Cramer Walsh, Cindy Kam, Ellen Lust, Tasha Philpot, April 7, 2011
“A Panel Discussion on Public Opinion and Political Action: The Present and the Future of the Fields”
Robert Putnam, April 8, 2008
“American Grace: The Changing Role of Religion in American Civic Life”
Morris P. Fiorina, April 28, 2005
“Culture War? A 2004 Update.”
Samuel L. Popkin, April 16, 2002
“The Reasoning Candidate: Theory and Practice in Modern Campaigns.”
Larry Bartels, April 13, 1999
“An Agenda for Voting Research.”