Julia Azari

Julia Azari is one of the hosts of the podcast series Politics in Question. She is an associate professor of political science at Marquette University. And she is the author of Delivering the People's Message: The Changing Politics of the Presidential Mandate (Cornell University Press, 2014). Her scholarly work has also appeared in Statistics in Public Policy, the ANNALS of the American Academy for Political and Social Science, and Perspectives on Politics. She is a contributor to the political science blog The Mischiefs of Faction and a contributor at FiveThirtyEight.com. She is also the inaugural winner of the American Political Science Association's award for best public-facing scholar. She has a Ph.D. in political science from Yale University.

Julia is an authority in her field on issues of the American Presidency and political parties in the United States, with a focus on partisanship and how these systems have changed since the 20th century. Specifically, her research looks at the relationship between presidents and parties, how formal and informal rules matter, and how change occurs across different institutions. Her book, Delivering the People's Message: The Changing Politics of the Presidential Mandate (Cornell University Press, 2014), Azari draws on an original dataset of more than 1,500 presidential communications, as well as primary documents from six presidential libraries, to systematically examine choices made by presidents ranging from Herbert Hoover in 1928 to Barack Obama during his 2008 election. Azari argues that Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980 marked a shift from the modern presidency formed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to what she identifies as a more partisan era for the presidency. In a review of Delivering the People’s Message, David Henry with the Journal of American History wrote, "By evaluating Republicans and Democrats in each chapter Azari ensures that attention is not on party or personality but on the presidency.... Thus Azari's work exemplifies the strengths of what she terms presidency studies, a scholarly venture that is interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary, that employs diverse methods of inquiry, and that advances news that merits attention. This is an excellent book." In her latest publications such as, Presidents Used To Be The Faces Of Their Political Parties. Is That No Longer The Case, Julia analyzes President Biden and his administration in the wider context of modern politics. 

Beyond the podcast series ‘Politics in Question’ and her publications, Julia has appeared on a variety of media programs to discuss her books and other contemporary political issues, including with the Library of Congress. Through hosting the ‘Politics in Question’ podcast, her books and articles, and speaking engagements, Julia Azari seeks to address questions about the American Presidency in an age of hyper partisanship. 

Julia is an authority in her field on issues of the American Presidency and political parties in the United States, with a focus on partisanship and how these systems have changed since the 20th century.

• Relationship between presidents and parties
• How formal and informal rules matter
• How change occurs across different institutions
• American Presidency in an age of hyper partisanship

Political Geography of Presidential Populism

Available for viewing from the UW School of Journalism & Mass Communication

The Future of the Democratic Party

Available for viewing on RAI Oxford

Beyond the Presidential Election: What to expect in the House and Senate

Available for viewing from the Library of Congress

Azari’s work exemplifies the strengths of what she terms presidency studies, a scholarly venture that is interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary, that employs diverse methods of inquiry, and that advances news that merits attention.

- David Henry, Journal of American History