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D. Sunshine Hillygus

Professor of Political Science
Political Science
Box 90204, Durham, NC 27708-0204
140 Science Drive, 203 Gross H, Box 90204, Durham, NC 27708

Overview


Professor Hillygus has published widely on the topics of American political behavior, campaigns and elections, survey methods, public opinion, and information technology and politics.  She is co-author of Making Young Voters:  Converting Civic Attitudes into Civic Action (Cambridge University Press, 2020), The Persuadable Voter: Wedge Issues in Political Campaigns (Princeton University Press, 2008) and The Hard Count: The Social and Political Challenges of the 2000 Census (Russell Sage Foundation, 2006). She is director of the Duke Initiative on Survey Methodology (https://dism.duke.edu/) and co-director of the Polarization Lab (https://www.polarizationlab.com/).

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Professor of Political Science · 2015 - Present Political Science, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Director of the Duke Initiative on Survey Methodology · 2010 - Present Social Science Research Institute, University Institutes and Centers
Interim Director of the Social Science Research Institute · 2025 - Present Social Science Research Institute, University Institutes and Centers
Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy · 2016 - Present Sanford School of Public Policy

In the News


Published November 8, 2024
Post Election Panel: Duke Experts Talk About What Happened in the Election
Published October 29, 2024
Squishy Polls, Changing Demographics: Election Factors to Watch in NC
Published March 5, 2024
‘People Are Exhausted by Politics’: Faculty Assess the 2024 Election at Briefing for International Journalists

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Recent Publications


Using Auxiliary Marginal Distributions in Imputations for Nonresponse while Accounting for Survey Weights, with Application to Estimating Voter Turnout

Journal Article Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology · February 1, 2024 In many survey settings, population counts or percentages are available for some of the variables in the survey, for example, from censuses, administrative databases, or other high-quality surveys. We present a model-based approach to utilize such auxiliar ... Full text Cite

Protecting the integrity of survey research.

Journal Article PNAS nexus · March 2023 Although polling is not irredeemably broken, changes in technology and society create challenges that, if not addressed well, can threaten the quality of election polls and other important surveys on topics such as the economy. This essay describes some of ... Full text Cite

A randomized experiment evaluating survey mode effects for video interviewing

Journal Article Political Science Research and Methods · January 1, 2023 Rising costs and challenges of in-person interviewing have prompted major surveys to consider moving online and conducting live web-based video interviews. In this paper, we evaluate video mode effects using a two-wave experimental design in which responde ... Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


Redesigning Social Media to Reduce Partisan Animosity

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Carnegie Corporation of New York · 2024 - 2026

The 2024 American National Election Studies (ANES)

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by University of Michigan · 2018 - 2026

Designing Social Media to Promote Intellectual Humility

ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by John Templeton Foundation · 2022 - 2025

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Education, Training & Certifications


Stanford University · 2003 Ph.D.
Stanford University · 2000 M.A.