Samuel L. Popkin (born June 9, 1942) is an American political scientist who teaches at the University of California, San Diego. Popkin has played a role in the development of rational choice models in political science. He is also noted for his work as a pollster.
Early life
Popkin was born on June 9, 1942. He received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1969.
Career
His most recent book is The Candidate: What it Takes to Win (and Hold) the White House. Earlier he wrote The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns and co-authored Issues and Strategies: The Computer Simulation of Presidential Campaigns. He also co-edited Chief of Staff: Twenty-Five Years of Managing the Presidency.
When he was assistant professor of government, in 1972, he was jailed for a week, for his refusal to answer questions before a grand jury investigating the Pentagon Papers case, during a hearing before the Boston's Federal District Court. The Faculty Council later passed a resolution condemning the government's interrogation of scholars on the grounds that "an unlimited right of grand juries to ask any question and to expose a witness to citations for contempt could easily threaten scholarly research."