Adam Cayton

I am an Associate Professor in the Reubin O'D. Askew Department of Government at the University of West Florida. 

My current research investigates how elites manage conflicting pressures with the goal of better understanding representation and the drivers of policy change. I study how members of Congress balance competing constituency and partisan pressures, and how they strategically appeal to different attitudes to when support from an ambivalent public. My coauthored book project examines how psychological and structural asymmetries in the Republican and Democratic coalitions produce different kinds of legislative behavior and styles of representation, and another ongoing project uses text-as-data approach to study the policy substance (measured as instruments and topics) and viability of legislation.  

I have taught a variety of courses on American politics and quantitative research methods for undergraduate and MA students, and love finding connections between material circumstances, messaging strategies and technology, and the big ideas that motivate political action.

Prior to joining the faculty at UWF I received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Colorado and a B.A. in Political Science and Spanish from the University of North Carolina at Asheville.