Matt Grossmann

Matt Grossmann is director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) and professor of political science at Michigan State University. He received a bachelor’s degree from Claremont McKenna College, and a master’s degree in political science in 2002 and a doctorate in 2007 from the University of California, Berkeley. Grossmann is the author of numerous books on political science, including Polarized by Degrees: How the Diploma Divide and the Culture War Transformed American Politics (2024), How Social Science Got Better: Overcoming Bias with More Evidence, Diversity, and Self-Reflection (2021), Red State Blues: How the Conservative Revolution Stalled in the States (2019), Asymmetric Politics: Ideological Republicans and Group Interest Democrats (2016), Artists of the Possible: Governing Networks and American Policy Change Since 1945 (2014), and The Not-So-Special Interests: Interest Groups, Public Representation, and American Governance (2012). He is coauthor of Campaigns and Elections, the leading elections textbook from W.W. Norton. Grossmann is a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center in Washington, D.C., and host of The Science of Politics podcast. He has also published op-eds in The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Grossmann’s project, a book tentatively titled Policymaking for Realists: Bipartisan Progress in a Polarized Age, will argue that the way through our intense polarization is recognizing that our institutions require bipartisanship — not just occasional working coalitions but a broader acknowledgment that both sides are here to stay and have something to offer.