Education
Ph.D., Georgetown University, 1996
B.A., Brown University, 1990. Political Science Major.
Linacre College, Oxford, 1994.
- Japanese Politics, The Nissan Institute
- American Political Behavior, St. Anne's CollegeProfessional Appointments
Associate Professor, George Mason University, 2006-present
Director, Master's of Public Policy Program (teaching courses on research methods, policy analysis, foreign policy, and American institutions), 2006-2009
Assistant Professor, George Mason University, 2003-2006.
Visiting Assistant Professor, Georgetown University, 2001-2003.
Assistant Professor, Kalamazoo College, 1996-2001.
Publications
Books
Closed Minds? Politics and Ideology in American Universities, Brookings, forthcoming July 2008 (Co-authored with Bruce Smith and Lee Fritschler)
Media Power, Media Politics, 2nd ed. Rowman and Littlefield, forthcoming fall 2008 (Co-edited with Mark Rozell).
Deconstructing Reagan: A Critical Analysis of Conservative Mythology. M.E. Sharpe, 2007 (Co-authored).
American Media Politics in Transition. McGraw Hill, 2006.
9-11: Aftershocks of the Attacks, 2nd ed. Wadsworth, 2006.
9-11 The Giant Awakens. Wadsworth, 2002.
Running on Race: Racial Politics in Presidential Campaigns 1960-2000. Random House, 2002.
- Named by Washington Monthly as one of the best political books of 2002.
Selected Book Chapters
“Campaign Press Coverage: Politics at the Speed of Light.” Campaigns on the Cutting Edge. Edited by Richard J. Semiatin. Congressional Quarterly Press.
“Zog for Albania, Edward for Estonia, and Royals for all the Rest? The Royal Road to Prosperity, Democracy, and World Peace.” With Lee Sigelman. Quantitative Methods in Practice. Edited by David Rochefort. Congressional Quarterly Press. 2005.
“Reagan and Race: Prophet of Colorblindness, Baiter of the Backlash.” Deconstructing Reagan: A Critical Analysis of Conservative Mythology. Edited by Kyle Longley. M.E. Sharpe, 2007.
Rozell, M. J., and J. D. Mayer. “A President Transformed: Bush’s Pre and Post September 11 Rhetoric and Image.” In The Public Domain: Presidents and the Challenge of Public Leadership, edited by L. C. Han and D. J. Heathe, 207-26. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005.
"A Comparison of Bush’s pre and post-9/11 Rhetoric." With Mark Rozell. In the Public Domain: Presidents and the Challenge of Public Leadership. Edited by Lori Cox Han and Diane J. Heathe. Albany: State University of New York Press. 2004.
“The Internet and the Future of Media Politics.” With Michael Cornfield. In Media and American Politics. Edited by Mark Rozell. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield. 2003.
“The Perils and Promise of Presidential Polling: From Gallup’s Dream to the Morris Nightmare.” With Lynn Kirby. In Is This Anyway To Run a Democratic Government? Edited by Stephen J. Wayne, Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.
“The Incorrigibly White Republican Party: Racial Politics in the 2000 Presidential Election.” In The Election of the Century, edited by Stephen J. Wayne and Clyde Wilcox, M.E. Sharpe, 2002.
“Understanding Perot’s Plummet.” With Clyde Wilcox. In Ross For Boss: Mass and Elite Perspectives, Ted Jelen, ed. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000.
"Everything Comes Up Rosy: The Iowa Christian Right in the 1994 Elections." With Bruce Nesmith. In God at the Grassroots: The Christian Right and the 1994 Elections, edited by Clyde Wilcox and Mark Rozell. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1995.
Selected Peer-Reviewed Articles
“Politics at the Speed of Light: How the Internet Has Changed Media Coverage of Campaigns.” 2008. Journal of Law and Politics (Japan), Volume 5 Spring 2008.
“The Presidency and Image Management: Discipline in the Pursuit of Illusion.” 2004. Presidential Studies Quarterly.
“Christian Fundamentalists and Public Opinion Toward the Middle East: Israel’s New Best Friends?” 2004. Social Science Quarterly.
“Gendered Political Socialization in Four Contexts: Political Interest and Values Among Junior High School Students in China, Japan, Mexico, and the United States.” With Heather Schmidt. 2004. The Social Science Journal.
“Demographic Shifts and Racial Attitudes: How Tolerant are Whites in the Most Diverse Generation?” With Molly W. Sonner. The Social Science Journal, 40: 2003.
“The Bush Presidency: Transition to Crisis Leadership.” With Mark Rozell and Clyde Wilcox. Acta Politica: International Journal of Political Science. 2002.
“The Bullets, the Ballots, and the Backlash: The Charged Racial Politics of 1968.” The Historian, Winter, 2002.
“The Racial Politics of the 1964 Presidential Campaign: LBJ Wins Despite Civil Rights.” Prologue: The Journal of the National Archives and Records Administration. March, 2001.
“Bradley’s Failure, McCain’s Success: The Preprimary Campaigns of 2000.” With Alex Sarapu. Political Chronicle, Fall 2000.
"Japan and International Relations Theory: Why Tokyo Didn’t Go Ballistic Over North Korean Nukes." Journal of Northeast Asian Studies, XV:2, Summer 1996.
Selected Non-Peer-Reviewed Articles
“Gay Rights in the Aftermath of the 2004 Presidential Election.” Federations. 2005.
“The 2004 Presidential Election: Bush Wins Another Broken Election.” Relações Internacionais, the journal of the Instituto Português de Relações Internacionais, Lisboa, Portugal. 2005.
“9-11 and the Secret FISA Court: From Watchdog to Lapdog?” Journal of International Law. 2002.
“Gay Rights in the USA: The States Lead the Way.” With Louis-Philippe Rochon.
Federations. Vol. 2, No. 1, November 2001.
“Zog for Albania, Edward for Estonia, and Royals for all the Rest? The Royal Road to Prosperity, Democracy, and World Peace.” With Lee Sigelman. PS: Political Science and Politics. December 1998.
“Tom Ridge” “John Ashcroft” “Nancy Pelosi” “John Snow” entries in the World Book Encyclopedia, 2002-5.
Selected Newspaper Op-Eds and Reviews
Review of "Allies for Armageddon: The Rise of Christian Zionism", by Victoria Clark, in The Journal of American History, forthcoming.
“War crimes next October surprise?” The Politico, April 22, 2008.
“Forget Libby; stop the next Bush pardon(s).” The Politico, July 7, 2007.
“GOP Veep choice could get interesting.” The Politico. October 16th, 2007.
“With so many front-runners, talk is veep.” The Politico, October 3, 2007.
“Is death on the ballot in 2008?” The Politico, September 17, 2007.
“Book offers excuses for middling career.” A review of Robert Shrum’s book, No Excuses: Confessions of a Serial Campaigner. The Politico, June 24, 2007.
“Fusion Is the Ticket for 2008.” The Politico. January 24, 2007.
“Kerry on Iraq: He must be clearer.” Northern Virginia Journal. June 7, 2004.
“Analyzing the midterm election results.” Blue and Gray. November 11, 2002.
“The real dirty bomb is already here.” Northern Virginia Journal. August 11, 2002.
“Election lawsuit would bring mutually assured destruction.” Kalamazoo Gazette. November 13. 2000.
“Only Gore may stop a banana republic.” Detroit News. November 9, 2000.
“In a close vote, would there be the courage to concede?” Detroit News. November 6, 2000.
“Gore in Double Trouble in Michigan.” Detroit News, November 14, 1999, p. 9C.
“Business culture tied to dearth of births.” Japan Times, July 13, 1998, p. 21.
“Preference voting will increase city’s election turnout problem” Kalamazoo Gazette, April 3, 1998, A9.
“Fieger eats away at Dems’ chance for governorship” Detroit News, March 14, 1998.
“Maturing in America” Washington Times, March 3, 1998. A23.
“Pothole fight linked to insurance reform” Detroit News, May 23, 1997.
“If Engler won’t raise gas tax, his campaign may be bumpy.” Detroit Free Press, March 21, 1997.
“Clinton Tuition Plan Benefits Only A Rich Elite.” Detroit News, March 6, 1997.
“Engler, lawmakers now must accept divided government and deal with it.” Detroit Free Press, January 31, 1997, 9A.
Selected Grant Activity
Political Diversity/Intellectual Climate. $100,000, 2002.
This grant was received from the Lounsbery Foundation to examine the question of faculty bias in higher education. My co-investigators are Lee Fritschler and Bruce L. R. Smith.
Convention Panel Organizer
“Simulating Politics: Bringing the Drama of Conflict Into the Undergraduate Classroom.” The Pi Sigma Alpha sponsored panel on teaching political science. American Political Science Association Annual Meeting Boston, August 1998.
Convention Papers and Presentations
Mayer, J. D. “New Media in American Politics.” Presented at the Brookings Institution, Executive Education Program, 2008.
“Partisan Patterns in the Aftermath of Terror: Civil Liberties, Spending and the Centrality of Fear.” With Naoru Koizumi and Todd LaPorte. A paper presented at the American Political Science Association’s Annual Meeting, August 31, 2006, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“Assessing Faculty Bias: A Critique and a Look Forward.” Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, January, 2006.
“Christian Fundamentalists and Public Opinion Toward the Middle East: Israel’s New Best Friends?” Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Savannah, GA, November, 2002.
“Racial Conservatism and Support for the Court: Did Whites Notice The Rehnquist Turn to the Right on Race?” American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Boston, August, 2002. (With Jacquie Jones)
“Politics Returns to Center Stage.” National Capital Area Political Science Association, for the panel “Teaching Political Science in the Post 9-11 Climate.” Washington DC, May 15, 2002.
“Color Blind Justice?: The Effect of Racial Conservatism on Public Support for the Supreme Court.” National Conference of Black Political Scientists, Atlanta Georgia, March 2002. (With Jacquie Jones)
“A Tale of Two Straddles: The Quiet Racial Politics of the 1960 Presidential Campaign.” American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, August 1999.
“Testing ‘Mere Mention’: Does Affirmative Action Inflame Affective Responses.” Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, October 28-31, 1998.
“White Voters and Racial Context in Presidential Elections: The Influence of Black Population Levels on White Voting Behavior in The Elections of 1988, 1992, and 1996.” Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Norfolk, Virginia, November 5-7, 1997.
“Race Relations and Generation X: How the Most Ethnically Diverse Generation Approaches Questions of Race in America” Coauthor Molly Sonner. Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, April 10-12, 1997.
"Reflections Across the Pacific: Politics, Economics, War, and Alliance in the Minds of American and Japanese Citizens.” Coauthors Cynthia Hamill, Aiji Tanaka, and Clyde Wilcox. Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, April 10-12, 1997.
"Did Lee Atwater and Willie Horton Matter? Racial Environment, National Partisan Elites, and the Presidential Elections of 1988 and 1992." Coauthor Molly Sonner. American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, August, 1996.
"White Partisan Defectors and Black Population Levels: Evidence of a New Theory of White Group Identity?" Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting Chicago, April, 1996.
"A Causal Path Analysis of the 1988 Election:Willie Horton and White Responses to Racial Environment." Southwest Social Science Association’s Annual Meeting, Houston, March, 1996.
"Southern Whites, Non-Southern Whites, and Racial Environment: A Comparison of Political Responses Among Whites to Black Population Levels in Three States." Citadel’s Symposium on Southern Politics, Charleston, South Carolina, March, 1996.
"Religious Coalitions in Iowa Politics: Catholics, the Christian Right, and 1994." Association for the Sociology of Religion, Washington DC, August, 1995.
"After Shaw v. Reno: Three Generations of Jurists Confront Racial Redistricting." Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, April, 1995.
"Japan and International Relations Theory: Applying Western Rules to an Eastern Power." Georgetown University Colloquium on Japan and Theories of International Relations, 1994.
Invited Talks
Lecture tour of Germany, March 2008, for the State Department’s Cultural Exchange program. Gave speeches in Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and Munich, on the 2008 Presidential Election and on media politics.
“The 2008 Presidential Election: History in the Making.” A public lecture at the School of Governance, University of Maastricht, January 17th, 2008.
“Knee Deep in the Big Sandy or Rising to the New Challenge of World Leadership? US Foreign Policy Since 9-11.” And “World Leadership Rejected, Accepted, and Mastered: Looking Back on the American Century.” Lectures at the US in a Global Community conference, Bonn, Germany, May 18-19th, 2007.
“The Future of Islam: A discussion with Reza Aslan.” A discussion/debate with Reza Aslan, author of No God but God at the US in A Global Community conference, Bonn Germany, May 17th, 2007.
“Christian Fundamentalists and Israel: Israel’s New Best Friends?” Nuhrnberg-Erlangen University, Nuhrnberg Germany, May 16, 2007.
“Racial Politics in American Presidential Elections.” German American Institute, Stuttgart, Germany, May 14, 2007.
“American Political Institutions.” Guest Lecturer, May 7-11, School of Government, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.
“Parties, Media and the Rise of the Internet:A Speculative Essay on the Ongoing Shift in the Balance of Political Power Among Communication Elites.” International Workshop on Policy Systems and Meta-Policy Systems in Advanced Countries: the Political Mechanism of Policy Change. University of Tokyo. March 5, 2007.
“The Longest Campaign in the World: Choosing the President 2008.” Presentation to the National Council of International Visitors, Washington DC, February 17, 2007.
“Response to Geer.” A commentary on In Defense of Negativity, by John G. Geer. The Cato Institute, Washington DC, September 20, 2006.
“Culture War And the Judiciary: The Roots in Religion.” 6th Annual Justice At Stake Convention, Washington, DC, June 22, 2006.
“Structural Flaws in American Elections.” Keynote address given on behalf of the U.S. Department to an international conference on electoral fairness and justice, sponsored by the state government of Guererro, Mexico, April 2006.
“Barriers to Civic Engagement in America.” Talk given to the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program Washington Seminar, February 9, 2006, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
“Racial Politics in the 2004 Presidential Election.” Talk for the League of Women Voters of Northern Virginia, February 2006.
“Lee v. Weisman and Rosenberger v. UVA.” A talk given at the We The People: The Citizen and the Constitution meeting for Northern Virginia public high school teachers, Fredericksburg, VA, October 2005.
One Nation Under Whose God? Two Establishment Clause Cases.” Keynote address at the Lou Frey Institute Conference on 9-11, University of Central Florida, October, 2005.
“Explaining the 2004 Presidential Election.” Talk given to the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program Washington Seminar, November 16, 2004, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
“Foreign Policy in the Presidential Election of 2004: Advantage Bush?” Paper presented at the conference “The United States and the International Order”, sponsored by the Luso-American Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal, September 30–October 1, 2004.
“Racial Politics in Presidential Campaigns.” A forum on my book Running on Race, with Michael Dukakis and Paul Watanabe, held at the John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, MA, April 28, 2003.
“Safer, Less Free, or Both? Civil Liberties after 9-11” and “Shock to the System or Return to Normal? The Effects of 9-11 on the American Political System.” Addresses at the Lou Frey Institute Conference on 9-11, University of Central Florida, April 2003.
“Running on Race: Racial Politics in Presidential Campaigns.” Keynote address, Global Citizenship Program, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield, MO. October, 2002.
“Bowling Alone in Arlington? The Relevance of Robert Putnam to Our Community.” Speech to the Committee of 100, a forum for civic leaders, Arlington, Virginia, December, 2001.
“The Meaning of the 2001 Elections.” Guest on the Voice of America’s call-in show on American politics, “America Today,” November 2001.
“Running on Race: The Racial Politics of the 1960, 1988, and 2000 Presidential Campaigns.” Forum talk at the Miller Center on Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. August, 2001.
“Kennedy’s Phone Call and Nixon’s Silence: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Racial Politics of the 1960 Campaign.” Speech given as part of the celebration of King Week at Kalamazoo College. Broadcast in 1999 and 2000 by WMUK, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
“Beyond Braveheart: Scottish Influences on the Constitution” Speech given to the Kalamazoo County Rotary Club, February, 1998.
“Change Your Tie Bill, Your Numbers Are Bad: The Perils and Promise of Polling For Politics.” Speech to the faculty of Kalamazoo College, as part of the Colloquium Series, Spring 1997.
Books
Smith, B. L. R., Mayer, J. D., and Fritschler, A. L. Closed Minds? Politics and Ideology in American Universities. Washington, DC: Brookings Press, 2008.
Mayer, J. D., and Mark Rozell, eds. Media Power, Media Politics, 2nd ed. Rowman and Littlefield, 2008.
Mayer, J. D., K. Longley, M. Schaller, and J. Sloan. Deconstructing Reagan: A Critical Analysis of Conservative Mythology. M.E. Sharpe, 2006.
Mayer, J. D. American Media Politics in Transition, McGraw Hill, 2006.
Mayer, J. D. 9-11: Aftershocks of the Attacks, 2nd edition, Wadsworth, 2006.
Book Sections
Mayer, J. D. “Campaign Press Coverage: Politics at the Speed of Light.” Campaigns on the Cutting Edge. Edited by Richard J. Semiatin. Congressional Quarterly Press.
Mayer, J. D. and L. Sigelman. “Zog for Albania, Edward for Estonia, and Royals for All; the Rest? The Royal Road to Prosperity, Democracy, and World Peace.” In Quantitative Methods in Practice, edited by David Rochefort: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2005.
Mayer, J. D. “Reagan and Race: Prophet of Colorblindness, Baiter of the Backlash.” Deconstructing Reagan: A Critical Analysis of Conservative Mythology. Edited by Kyle Longley. M.E. Sharpe, 2007.
Rozell, M. J., and J. D. Mayer. “A President Transformed: Bush’s Pre and Post September 11 Rhetoric and Image.” In The Public Domain: Presidents and the Challenge of Public Leadership, edited by L. C. Han and D. J. Heathe, 207-26. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005.
Journal Articles and Reviews
Mayer, J. D. “Politics at the Speed of Light: How the Internet Has Changed Media Coverage of Campaigns.” Journal of Law and Politics 5, (2008).
Mayer, J. D. “Foreign Policy in the Presidential Election of 2004: Advantage Bush?” IPRI at http://www.ipri.pt/eventos (2005).
Selected Newspaper Op-Eds and Reviews
Mayer, J. D. Review of "Allies for Armageddon: The Rise of Christian Zionism." by Victoria Clark, in The Journal of American History, forthcoming.
Mayer, J. D. “War crimes next October surprise?” The Politico, April 22, 2008.
Mayer, J. D. “Forget Libby; stop the next Bush pardon(s).” The Politico, July 7, 2007.
Mayer, J. D. “GOP Veep choice could get interesting.” The Politico. October 16th, 2007.
Mayer, J. D. “With so many front-runners, talk is veep.” The Politico, October 3, 2007.
Mayer, J. D. “Is death on the ballot in 2008?” The Politico, September 17, 2007.
Mayer, J. D. “Book offers excuses for middling career.” A review of Robert Shrum’s book, No Excuses: Confessions of a Serial Campaigner. The Politico, June 24, 2007.
Mayer, J. D. “Fusion Is the Ticket for 2008.” The Politico. January 24, 2007.
Presentations and Proceedings
Mayer, J. D. “New Media in American Politics.” Presented at the Brookings Institution, Executive Education Program, 2008.