Delton T. Daigle

Delton T. Daigle is an associate professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in political research methodology and an undergraduate course in political psychology. In 2020, Daigle became the Schar School’s first director of online learning.

His book, Populism, Nativism, and Economic Uncertainty (2019), examines the 2017 elections in the U.K., France, and Germany. While topical, the book also shows Daigle’s commitment to teaching research skills across levels at the university—his two coauthors were students (Neulen, BA 2018, MA 2020; and Hofeman PhD, in progress). He is under contract with his publisher to write a revised examination of these themes across a broader set of countries for a forthcoming publication.

Additionally, Daigle continues to write extensively on the state of teaching in the discipline, chairing multiple panels and workshops—particularly writing about how to improve research methods training to undergraduate majors. He has recently published multiple peer-reviewed papers on the topical emergent field of great interest to academies: online learning. In addition, he is authoring both an undergraduate and a graduate chapter on teaching research methods for publication in 2022.

Daigle has been involved in numerous impactful surveys recently, for example, designing one (with Stefan Toeplar) that has been widely cited by the U.S. Government Accountability Office in calling for reform of the banking constraints on State Department sympathetic nonprofits. He partnered with Smithsonian Magazine and Stars and Stripes to survey former and current active-duty service members deployed by the American military in a 2018 Veterans Day poll. Daigle is also currently under contract with Sage/CQ Press to develop an all-new research methods textbook and supporting materials.

Daigle received his PhD in 2010 from The Ohio State University, where his dissertation examined the effects of ambient political information, particularly public opinion polls, on driving support for candidates (the “bandwagon effect”) in Canada and the U.S. He earned an MA in political science (American, methods) with a graduate specialization in survey research from The Ohio State University in 2005, an MA in political science from McGill University (2002), and a BA in political science from Brock University (1996).

View Delton T. Daigle's CV

Areas of Research

• Elections
• Public Opinion
• Political Psychology
• American Politics
• Canadian Politics
• Survey Research
• Quantitative Research Methods