My primary research interest is in public opinion and mass media, as they relate to race and politics. My book Why Americans Hate Welfare explores racial and class-based attitudes that shape public opinion. The question that drove this project was: Why do Americans who want to "help the poor" have such negative attitudes toward "welfare"? Ironically, Americans actually support state assistance to the deserving poor (i.e., those who are not lazy and who actively seek employment). At the same time, they overwhelmingly oppose welfare for those perceived as “shiftless and lazy,” a categorization that has come to be associated with African Americans as a result of the media’s long-term propensity to connect welfare with Blacks. Racial stereotypes, not white self-interest or anti-statism, appear to lie at the root of opposition to welfare programs. My current projects examine the responsiveness of federal government policy to the preferences of different segments of the American public, with special emphasis on the idea that it may be more responsive to some segments of the public than others; historical changes in media coverage of presidential elections and the impact of those change on the public's knowledge and interest in presidential candidates and campaigns; and the role of (mis)information in the formation of the American public's policy preferences.