Fred Cutler

Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director

Academic Chair of Arts Instructional Support and Information Technology

Office: Buch C408 Office phone: 604-822-6841
Email: fred.cutler@ubc.ca

Google Scholar Profile


Fred Cutler (Ph.D. Michigan) does research in public opinion, elections, federalism, and political psychology. He has published in POQ, JOP, BJPolS, CJPS, Publius, Political Geography, Electoral Stuides, and has chapters in various edited volumes.  A new research project involves lab experiments to understand the effects of different numbers of political parties on voters (electoraldemocracy.com).  He has a SSHRCC-funded project on Polls and Elections, with J. Scott Matthews (Queen's), Mark Pickup (Oxford & SFU), and Paul Gustafson (UBC). His recent SSHRCC-funded research focussed on the effect of federalism on political behaviour and government accountability. Much of his work has investigated the influence of the local social and economic environment on how people think about politics. He is a keen user and teacher of leading-edge statistical methodology, the use of computer mapping (GIS) in political geography, and experimental research in political psychology.

I am one of four investigators on the current Canadian Election Study, the premiere academic survey on Canadian public opinion and voting behaviour.  The grant is to study the next two federal elections.  It is funded by SSHRC and Elections Canada. My collaborators are Patrick Fournier (U de Montreal), Stuart Soroka (McGill), and Dietlind Stolle (McGill).  

News article on Polls & Elections project

Making Electoral Democracy Work: Parties, Voters, and the Rules of the Game

Curriculum Vita

Teaching

In 20012-13 Fred Cutler is teaching

  • Term 1: POLI380 - Quantitative Methods in Political Science:
    webCT Vista site access from my.ubc.ca       get syllabus

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    Recent Publications

    • "Whodunnit? Canadian Voters, Intergovernmentalism, and Responsibility". CANADIAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE. 41:3, 627-654 (2008).
    • One Voter, Two First-Order Elections? Electoral Studies 27, 492-503 (2008)
    • Fred Cutler, Richard G. C. Johnston, R. Kenneth Carty, Andre  Blais and Patrick Fournier . "The BC Citizens’ Assembly As Agenda-Setter: Shaking Up Voter Choice". in Designing Democratic Renewal. Ed. Mark Warren and Hilary Pearse. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
    • Context and Attitude Formation: Social Interaction, Default Information, or Local Interests? Political Geography 26:5 (2007), 575-600.
    • with J. Scott Matthews. "The Challenge of Municipal Voting: Vancouver 2002". Canadian Journal of Political Science. 38.2. (2005), 1 - 24.
    • "Government Responsibility and Electoral Accountability in Federations". Publius: The Journal of Federalism. 34.2. (Spring 2004).
    • "The Governments and Citizens of Canadian Federalism" (with Matthew Mendelsohn) in Philip Resnick and Gerald Kernerman, eds. Rethinking Citizenship in the Canadian Federation: Essays in Honour of Alan Cairns. UBC Press.  (2004)
    • "Local Economies, Local Policy Effects, and Federal Electoral Behaviour” Canadian Journal of Political Science, 35 (2002).
    • "The Simplest Shortcut of All: Voter-Candidate Socio-Demographic Similarity and Electoral Choice" Journal of Politics, 64(2002).
    • "Where One Lives and What One Thinks: Implications of the Rural-Urban Cleavage for Canadian Federalism" (with Richard Jenkins) forthcoming, Canada: The State of the Federation 2000-2001. Queen’s University, Institute for Intergovernmental Relations.
    • "The Effect of Referendums on Democratic Citizens: Information, Politicization, Efficacy, and Tolerance" (with Matthew Mendelsohn), British Journal of Political Science 30 (2000).
    • "Jeremy Bentham and the Public Opinion Tribunal"
      Public Opinion Quarterly, 63 (1999).

    Graduate Supervision

    Professor Cutler is interested in supervising students in Canadian and Comparative Politics with concentration in Voting Behaviour, Public Opinion, and Political Psychology.

    Recent topics include:

    "Deliberative Democratic Theory and Real Campaign Talk: How Far Apart?" - Andrew Owen (Ph.D. at Princeton Univ.)

    "Learning Difference: University Education and Canadian Public Opinion on Asymmetrical Multinational Federalism" -  John Brodhead (Policy Advisor to the Premier of Ontario)

    "We don't want immigrants because they don't integrate ... and steal our jobs: Comparing economic and cultural influences on xenophobia in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand" - Go Murakami

    "Information and interests in the absence of partisan endorsements: efficient decision-making in the BC referendum on electoral reform" - Graeme Hooper (Policy Analyst, Gov't of BC)

     

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