David A. Hopkins is an associate professor of political science at Boston College, where he has taught since 2010. His research focuses on American political parties, elections, and voters.

Professor Hopkins is the author of Red Fighting Blue: How Geography and Electoral Rules Polarize American Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2017); Asymmetric Politics: Ideological Republicans and Group Interest Democrats (with Matt Grossmann; Oxford University Press, 2016); and Presidential Elections: Strategies and Structures of American Politics, 16th edition (with Nelson W. Polsby, Aaron Wildavsky, and Steven E. Schier; Rowman & Littlefield, 2024).

Professor Hopkins writes frequently about American politics for popular audiences. His analysis has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Vox, and other publications, and he blogs regularly about current events at his website Honest Graft. He received his A.B. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Our fifteen edition of PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, coauthored with David Hopkins, Nelson Polsby and Aaron Wildavsky, will appear from Rowman and Littlefield in 2019. Todd Eberly and I, who published TRUMP: OUTSIDER IN THE OVAL OFFICE in 2017 with Rowman and Littlefield, will publish HOW TRUMP HAPPENED with that same publisher.

For 35 years,I was a professor of American politics at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. During my time at Carleton, I taught widely in American politics--courses on Congress, the presidency, parties and interest groups, political rhetoric, America's future, and public policy.

I have published twenty-one books and have authored several scholarly articles and monographs. My edited book THE POSTMODERN PRESIDENCY: BILL CLINTON'S LEGACY IN AMERICAN POLITICS was published by Pittsburgh Press. CHOICE magazine named that book an "Outstanding Academic Book" of 2001, the first of two such awards my books have won. Another book, an edited volume entitled HIGH RISK AND BIG AMBITION: THE PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE W. BUSH was listed as an "academic press best seller" in 2004.

My 2009 book, PANORAMA OF A PRESIDENCY: HOW GEORGE W. BUSH ACQUIRED AND SPENT HIS POLITICAL CAPITAL (M.E. Sharpe) also won an "outstanding academic book" award from CHOICE magazine, a publication that reviews books for college libraries.

I coedited (with Janet Box-Steffensmeier of Ohio State) two books, THE AMERICAN ELECTIONS OF 2008 and 2012 for Rowman and Littlefield publishers. Among my other edited volumes are AMBITION AND DIVISION: LEGACIES OF THE GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENCY, published by the University of Pittsburgh press in 2009 and DEBATING THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2016.

I am also active as a media commentator. My columns have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Washington Monthly, Brookings Review and other publications. My observations on state and national politics are quoted frequently in newspapers and magazines. I also work as a political commentator for local television stations, Minnesota Public Radio, and the British Broadcasting Corporation.