Baylor University, a private Christian university and a nationally ranked research institution, provides a vibrant campus community for more than 15,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship.

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Racial Differences in Information, Expectations, and Accountability

Life Satisfaction and Political Participation: Evidence from the United States

Income Inequality and Policy Representation in the American States

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Dr. Flavin’s research and teaching interests include political inequality, the impact of politics and public policies on citizens’ quality of life, U.S. state politics, political behavior, and research methods. His research has been published in the American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, American Politics Research, State Politics & Policy Quarterly, Electoral Studies, and other journals.

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Citizens Perception of Politics

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Patrick Flavin, Ph.D., associate professor of political science

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Bob Bullock Professor of Political Science, Interim Chair of Political Science

It’s happening. Again. Another U.S. presidential campaign.

The contentious 2018 midterm elections are barely in the mud-encrusted rear-view mirror, and the next general election is nearly two years away, but telltale campaigning has already begun as presidential hopefuls emerge to take on each other and Donald Trump, who consistently talks and tweets about Election Day 2020.

Does this ubiquitous campaigning make you weary?

If so, you’re not alone, said expert Patrick Flavin, Ph.D., associate professor of political science in Baylor University’s College of Arts & Sciences.

“Election fatigue is real in the United States,” said Flavin, who researches the impact of politics and policies on citizens’ quality of life. “The U.S. holds more elections than just about any other country in the world: primary elections, school board elections, city council elections and more. So, it’s not unreasonable for someone to say, ‘I’m tired of voting because it seems like I’m voting all the time.’”
But it’s not just the number of elections that takes a toll. The presidential election cycles are longer now than in years past. Much of that is due to the race for resources, Flavin said.

Over the past few weeks, potential Democratic candidates like former Vice President Joe Biden, former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Kirsten Gillibrand and Amy Klobuchar have been making moves – either announcing candidacies or testing the political waters.
“Right now, we’re at the start of the ‘invisible primary’ for Democratic candidates whereby they compete for staff, endorsements from other politicians and party leaders, name recognition and fundraising sources,” Flavin said.

“For relatively unknown candidates, in particular, it is important to get into the race early to give yourself a head start in trying to compete for those scarce resources. In contrast, a more well-known candidate like Joe Biden can afford to wait for a while before starting his campaign – if he does decide to run.”

Flavin said it’s important for citizens to know what’s happening on the national political scene, but he advises people to take a break when it becomes overwhelming.

“Being an informed citizen is good and to be admired, but I don’t think it’s healthy to obsess over every single day-to-day political development – especially in the era of 24/7 news,” he said. “Balance it out with other important things in life.”

And if you’re in a position (a political science professor, for example) that doesn’t often afford the time to break away, Flavin advises taking the time to approach politics as an observer.

“Just like anyone else, political science professors would go crazy if they focused on politics 24/7. So, balance is important. In addition, it is healthier, I think, to approach campaigns and elections as an observer who is interested in better understanding why the candidates take the positions they do, why voters support this candidate over that candidate, etc.”

Flavin also said that focusing too much on the national landscape pulls people away from critical state and local issues.

“There are important decisions being made at the state and local levels that we need to be aware of,” he said.

Flavin’s newest research shows that Americans are happier in states where governments spend more on public goods, such as libraries, parks, highways, natural resources and police protection.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.

ABOUT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s oldest and largest academic division, consisting of 25 academic departments and seven academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. Faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines. Visit www.baylor.edu/artsandsciences. 

Battling Election Fatigue? Balance It Out with Other Important Things in Life, Baylor Expert Says

americans-are-happier-in-states-that-spend-more-on-libraries-parks-and-highways

Such ‘public goods’ also are less likely to spark political conflict, Baylor researcher says  Americans are happier in states where governments spend more on public goods, such as libraries, parks, highways, natural resources and police protection, a Baylor University study has found.

“Public goods are things you can’t exclude people from using — and one person using them doesn’t stop another from doing so,” said researcher Patrick Flavin, Ph.D., associate professor of political science in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences. “They’re typically not profitable to produce in the private market, so if the government doesn’t provide them, they will either be under-provided or not at all.”

Public goods spending makes communities “more livable, with more amenities,” Flavin said. “If roads are completed and kept up, so that people aren’t stuck in traffic, they have more time to do things they enjoy doing. Large parks are social spaces — and one clear finding of happiness studies is that people who are more socially connected tend to be happier.”

Another benefit of spending money on public goods is that such amenities generally boost home values — and “while higher property taxes generally accompany higher home values, it seems that the good outweighs the unfortunate part about having to pay higher taxes,” Flavin said.

In his study, published in the journal Social Science Research, Flavin analyzed data on respondents’ self-reported levels of happiness for 1976-2006 from the General Social Survey, a representative sample of Americans that monitors social characteristics and attitudes of Americans and is a project of the independent research organization NORC at the University of Chicago. Flavin also analyzed detailed government spending data for states from the U.S. Census Bureau for 1976-2006. Revenues to fund state public goods are raised from a combination of state taxes and transfers from the federal government to states, averaging 22.5 percent of total state revenues for that 30-year period.

“We can look at the city where people live, their neighborhoods, and see how public goods spending predicts happiness after taking other important factors, such as marital status, health, education and income, into account,” Flavin said.
He also found that public goods spending has broad benefits across income, education, gender and race/ethnicity lines.

“Compared to a lot of the other government spending, public goods tend to be less controversial between liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, compared to poverty assistance or unemployment benefits, where there is definite disagreement between political parties,” Flavin said. “I think there is less political conflict over public goods spending simply because if they government doesn’t provide them, they won’t be provided at all.”

Flavin cautioned that there is not necessarily a cause-and-effect relationship between public goods and happiness.

“It could be that happier citizens self-select by moving to states that spend comparatively more on public goods,” he said. “It also is possible that happier citizens support higher spending on public goods and elect state officials to deliver on that policy.”

Because some spending for public goods comes from local government, Flavin hopes to do a study linking citizens to their local city instead of only to the state. And because living a happy and satisfying life is a nearly universal human goal, he predicts that better understanding of how policies concretely impact quality of life will receive increasing attention from researchers in the years to come.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.

ABOUT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s oldest and largest academic division, consisting of 25 academic departments and seven academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. Faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines.


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