David Primo, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Rochester and a member of CCP’s Board of Academic Advisors, has been awarded tenure. In addition to outstanding work on campaign finance, David’s research has delved heavily into the mechanics of government budgeting and decisionmaking. His book, Rules and Restraint: Government Spending and the Design of Institutions, has won rave reviews (if academic book reviews ever "rave") and won the 2008 Alan Rosenthal Prize from the American Political Science Association.
In Campaign Finance Laws and Political Efficacy, 5 Election L. J. 23 (2006) co-authored by David with Professor Jeffrey Milyo of the University of Missouri (and another member of CCP’s Board of Academic Advisors), David explored the relationship between campaign finance laws and the level of trust that citizens place in their government. This is important information because the Supreme Court has validated a state’s interest in overriding speech rights in part on the grounds that it is vital to maintain trust in government. Their findings revealed that the simplistic arguments that reform is necessary to "restore public trust" is simply not supported by evidence: it appears that some reforms (such as disclosure) do, and others (such as tax financing of campaigns) do not.
Professor Primo’s 2006 working paper, The Effects of Campaign Finance Laws on Voter Turnout, 1950-2000, also co-authored with Professor Milyo finds that campaign finance laws have little effect one way or the other on voter turnout, with a notable exception – government financing of campaigns tends to drive turnout down.
David has also devoted considerable study to reading public opinion on campaign finance. Polling is notoriously sensitive in this field – slight variations in how the question is asked can radically change results, and moreover, stated results are often contradicted by deeper probing into what the respondent thinks. One of Professor Primo’s early articles, Public Opinion and Campaign Finance: Reformers vs. Reality 7 Ind. Rev. 207 (2002) is a concise, perceptive review of the literature up through the early part of this decade, and vital for understanding later polls on the subject of campaign finance and public opinion.
David is truly one of the rising young stars in the world of political science, and we congratulate him on his award of tenure.
