Travis Ridout

  1. Director
  2. Professor
  3. Claudius O. and May W. Johnson Distinguished Professor
Email Addresstnridout@wsu.edu
LocationJohnson Tower 816
Phone509-335-2264

Biography

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Curriculum vitae

Travis N. Ridout is Claudius O. and Mary W. Johnson Distinguished Professor and Director of the School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs at Washington State University. He is one of the country’s leading authorities on the topic of political advertising and serves as co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, which studies and tracks political advertising. In 2023, he served as a Fulbright Scholar at Monash University in Melbourne. From 2014-2016, he was chair of the Political Communication section of the American Political Science Association. Ridout received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2003, and his research on political campaigns, political advertising and campaign finance has appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Communication, Political Behavior, Political Psychology, and in many other journals, books and book chapters. Ridout’s most recent book, Political Advertising in the United States, 2nd edition, was published in 2021.

Education

  • Ph.D., Political Science, University of Wisconsin
  • M.A., Political Science, University of Wisconsin
  • B.A., Political Science, Central College

Research Interests

Political communication, campaigns, elections, political advertising, campaign finance, public opinion

Recent Publications

  • Ridout, Travis N., Erika Franklin Fowler, Michael M. Franz and Taewoo Kang. 2024.  “Public Perceptions of Television and Online Political Advertising.” Research & Politics.  https://doi.org/10.1177/20531680241263766
  • Ridout, Travis N. and Furkan Cakmak. 2024. “The Impact of New Transparency in Digital Advertising on Media Coverage.” Political Communication. 41(2): 335-343. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2024.2303159
  • Franz, Michael M., Travis N. Ridout and Erika Franklin Fowler. 2023. “Television Advertising in the 2022 Midterms.” The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics.  https://doi.org/10.1515/for-2023-2005
  • Neumann, Markus, Erika Franklin Fowler and Travis N. Ridout. 2022. “Body Language and Gender Stereotypes in Campaign Video.” Computational Communication Research 4(1): 254-274. https://computationalcommunication.org/ccr/article/view/105
  • Fowler, Erika F., Michael M. Franz, Gregory S. Martin, Zachary Peskowitz and Travis N. Ridout. 2021. “Political Advertising Online and Offline.” American Political Science Review. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055420000696