Dissertation Project

"Against and Alongside the Bully Pulpit: How Members of Congress Publicly Respond to Presidential Appeals."

Abstract: The bulk of public appeals literature focuses on the dyadic interaction between political elites—most commonly a president—and their constituents. Meanwhile, the exchange of messages between political elites—say, presidents and legislators—receive considerably less attention. This paper investigates how members of Congress intermittently buoy and block presidential efforts to rally public support for policy initiatives. Drawing upon a rich collection of legislators' press releases, this paper evaluates how partisan, ideological, and electoral considerations figure into each legislator’s propensity to offer support, opposition, or say nothing at all in the aftermath of a presidential appeal. Analyses of all press releases from the 111th and 115th sessions of Congress suggest that moderates and those who are cross-pressured by parties and constituents are notably less likely to respond to presidential speeches; and when they do respond, they tend to remain neutral. Ideologically extreme legislators, by contrast, respond with greater frequency and deliver statements of clear support or opposition. Additional analyses of members’ responses to presidential State of the Union Addresses reveal a marked increase in opposition by the minority party.  Republican opposition to Barack Obama, a variety of structural topic models reveal, pales in comparison to Democratic opposition toward Trump. Collectively, these findings have important implications for our understanding of public debates about the president’s policy agenda and party polarization within Congress.

Publications

Shu Fu and Meg Savel. 2020 (forthcoming). "Policy without Partisanship: The Direct Appeals of First Ladies." Presidential Studies Quarterly. [PDF]

Shu Fu and William G. Howell. 2020. "The Behavioral Consequences of Public Appeals: Evidence on Campaign Fundraising from the 2018 Congressional Elections." Presidential Studies Quarterly 50 (2): 325-347. [PDF] [Supplementary Materials]

Working Papers

"Against and Alongside the Bully Pulpit: How Members of Congress Publicly Respond to Presidential Appeals."​

"Virtual Homestyle: How Congressional Members Signal Ideological Location through Twitter," with Eric Oliver.

"Presidential Partisan Particularism: A Reconsideration," under review. [PDF]

"Effects of Elite Cues on American Foreign Policy Attitudes toward China."

Master and Senior Theses at Tsinghua 
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"Impacts of Imperial College Student Opinion on Foreign Policy Making in the Song Dynasty (宋代太学生舆论对国家战和决策的相关性分析)," 2015, advised by Chuanjie Zhang. [PDF]

"An Analysis of the Orientation of American Public Opinion toward Taiwan (美国公众涉台舆论取向分析)," 2012, World Economics and Politics 395: 91-112, advised by Chuanjie Zhang. [PDF]