Here are some books, articles and book chapters I have published, organized by topic area
Civic Sift
Mission Statement
Episode One: How the Heck are Votes Counted in Wisconsin?
Meta-US2020 Election Project (Project Rapporteur)
Wagner, Michael W. 2023. Independence by Permission, Science 381 (6656): 388-391.
Contentious Politics and Communication (Research Produced by the Center for Communication and Civic Renewal)
Mak, Macau K. F., Zening Duan, Sijia Yang, and Michael W. Wagner (2025). “To quit or not to quit Twitter? The interplay of identities, perceptions, and behavioral reactions to changing platform ownership.” Information, Communication & Society. Online First.
Sun, Yibing, Liwei Shen, Ji Soo Choi, Porismita Borah, Michael W. Wagner, Dhavan V. Shah, and Sijia Yang. (2025). Visual Exemplars? Testing the Differential Effects of AI-Generated Visual Correction Enhancements,” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly.
Mak, Macau K. F. and Michael W. Wagner (2025). Multi-Platform Social Media Use and Incidental Exposure: A Two-Step Analysis of the Conjoint and Distinct Roles of Network Heterogeneity and Homogeneity Across Platforms, Social Media + Society
Suh, Yoo Ji, Michael W. Wagner, and Dhavan V. Shah (2025). “How Partisan Media Influences Aversion to Political Compromise,” Media and Communication, 13, 1-25.
Dempsey, Sadie, Jianing Li, Benny Witkovsky, Yiming Wang, Lew Friedland, Michael W. Wagner, Dhavan V. Shah. (2024). “Manufacturing January 6th: How Republican County Parties Mobilized Anger to #StopTheSteal.” Politics & Society. Online First.
Wang, Yiming, Sang Jung Kim, Yuanliang Shan, Yibing Sun, Xiaoya Jiang, Heysung Lee, Porismita Borah, Michael W. Wagner and Dhavan Shah. 2024; “Slant, Extremity and Diversity: How the Shape of News Use Explains Electoral Judgment and Confidence,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Volume 88, Issue SI, 2024, Pages 708–734, https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfae031
Friedland, Lewis, Dhavan V. Shah, Michael W. Wagner, Chris Wells, Katherine J. Cramer, Jon C.W. Pevehouse. 2022. Battleground: Asymmetric Communication Ecologies and the Erosion of Civil Society in Wisconsin. Elements in Politics and Communication Series, Stuart Soroka, Ed. Cambridge University Press.
Foley, Jordan, Michael W. Wagner, Ceri Hughes, Jiyoun Suk, Katherine J. Cramer, Lewis A.Friedland, and Dhavan V. Shah. 2021. “Free and Fair? The Differential Experiences of Voting Barriers and Voting Policies in American Midterm Elections,” International Journal of Public Opinion Research.
Dempsey, Sadie, Jiyoun Suk, Katherine J. Cramer, Lewis A. Friedland, Michael W. Wagner, Dhavan V. Shah. 2020. “Understanding Trump Supporters’ News Use: Beyond the Fox News Bubble,” The Forum 18(3): 319-346.
Wells, C., Friedland, L., Hughes, C., Shah, D.V., Suk, J., and Wagner, M. W. (Online First). News Media Use, Talk Networks, and Anti-Elitism across Geographic Location: Evidence from Wisconsin.” International Journal of Press/Politics.
Suk, J., Shah, D., Wells, C, Wagner, M., Friedland, L., Cramer, K., Hughes, C., & Franklin, C. Do Improving Conditions Harden Partisan Preferences? Communication, Context, and Political Evaluations During Periods of Contention. International Journal of Public Opinion Research.
Wells, Chris, Cramer, Katherine J., Wagner, Michael W., Alvarez, German, Friedland, Lewis A., Shah, Dhavan V., Bode, Leticia., Edgerly, Stephanie., Gabay, Itay., & Franklin, Charles. Forthcoming. “When We Stop Talking Politics: The Maintenance and Closing of Conversation in Contentious Times. Journal of Communication 67: 131-157.
Wagner, Michael W., Chris Wells, Lewis A. Friedland, Katherine J. Cramer, and Dhavan V. Shah. 2014. “Cultural Worldviews and Contentious Politics: Evaluative Asymmetry in High-Information Environments,” The Good Society, 23 (2): 126-144.
Public-Facing Reports from the CCCR
Wisconsin’s Media Ecology & Civic Health (June, 2023)
Civic Fracture & Renewal in Wisconsin (March, 2023)
Political rifts end friendships, spark safety fears in Wisconsin, but civics can be healed (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Research Informed Analysis Published in Public Facing Arenas
New Survey Data on Who Americans Look to for Election Administration (Bipartisan Policy Center)
When do voters support the Green New Deal or Black Lives Matter? (Washington Post’s The Monkey Cage)
Real Voting Equality (Scholars Strategy Network)
How Media Consumption Patters Fuel Conspiratorial Thinking (Brookings TechStream)
Wisconsin is Scheduled to Vote Today? How Will the Pandemic Affect Turnout?(Washington Post’s The Monkey Cage)
What Makes Wisconsin Swing? (Vox)
UW Communication and Civic Renewal Research Team: Wisconsinites want nonpartisan redistricting, voice for political minorities (Capital Times)
Mediated Democracy Book
Wagner, Michael W. and Mallory R. Perryman. 2021. Mediated Democracy: Politics, the News, and Citizenship in the 21st Century. CQ Press/Sage
Misinformation and Fact-Checking
Li, Jianing and Michael W Wagner. 2024. How do social media users and journalists express concerns about social media misinformation? A computational analysis. Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. June 18, 2024.
How Large-Scale Identification and Intervention Can Empower Professional Fact-Checkers to Improve Democracy and Public Health. National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator Grant Track F ($750,000, PI: Michael W. Wagner; co-PI’s: Sijia Yang, Porismita Borah, Munmun de Choudhury, Srijan Kumar, William Sethares, Katie Harbath, Dhavan Shah).
Li, Jianing, Jordan M. Foley, Omar Dumdum, and Michael W. Wagner. 2021. “The Power of a Genre: Political News Reporting Presented as Fact-Checking Increases Accurate Belief Updating and Hostile Media Perceptions,” Mass Communication and Society.
Li, Jianing and Michael W. Wagner. 2020. “The Value of Not Knowing: Partisan Cue-Taking and Belief Updating of the Uninformed, the Ambiguous and the Misinformed” Journal of Communication 70(5): 646-669.
When are readers likely to believe a fact-check? (Brookings, TechStream)
COVID-19
Jiang, Xiaoya, Juwon Hwang, Min-Hsin Su, Michael W. Wagner and Dhavan V. Shah. 2022. “Ideology and COVID-19 Vaccination Intention: Perceptual Mediators and Communication Moderators,” Journal of Health Communication. Online First.
Beyond the Left-Right Divide Project
Carmines, Edward G., Michael J. Ensley, and Michael W. Wagner. 2016 “Ideological Heterogeneity and the rise of Donald Trump,” The Forum 14(4): 385-397.
Carmines, Edward G., Michael J. Ensley, and Michael W. Wagner. 2014. “Why Americans Can’t Get Beyond the Left-Right Divide.” in The State of the Parties, 7th Edition, John C. Green, Daniel Coffey, and David Cohen, editors. Rowan and Littlefield.
Carmines, Edward G., Michael J. Ensley, and Michael W. Wagner. 2012. “Political Ideology in American Politics: One, Two, or None?,” The Forum.
Carmines, Edward G., Michael J. Ensley, and Michael W. Wagner. 2012. “Who Fits the Left-Right Divide? Partisan Polarization in the American Electorate,” American Behavioral Scientist.
Carmines, Edward G., Michael J. Ensley, and Michael W. Wagner. 2011. “Issue Preferences Civic Engagement, and the Transformation of American Politics.” in Facing the Challenge of Democracy: Explorations in the Analysis of Public Opinion and Political Participation, Paul M. Sniderman & Benjamin Highton, Eds. Princeton University Press.
Framing, Opinion Formation, and Partisanship
Perryman, Mallory R., Jordan Foley and Michael W. Wagner. 2020 “Is Bad News Biased? How Poll Reporting Affects Perceptions of Media Bias and Presumed Voter Behavior.” International Journal of Communication. 14: 3903-3923.
Shah, Dhavan V., Douglas M. McLeod, Hernando Rojas, Jaeho Cho, Michael W. Wagner, and Lewis A. Friedland. 2017. “Revising the Communication Mediation Model for a New Political Communication Ecology,” Human Communication Research 43(4): 491-504
Wagner, Michael W. and Michael W. Gruszczynski. 2016. “When Framing Matters: The Role of Partisan and Journalistic Issue Frames on Public Opinion and Party Identification,” Journalism and Communication Monographs, 5-48.
Theiss-Morse, Elizabeth, Dona-Gene Barton, and Michael W. Wagner. 2015. “Political Trust in Polarized Times,” in Nebraska Symposium on Motivation Alan Tomkins and Brian Bornstein, Eds., pgs. 167-190. Springer.
Wagner, Michael W., Kristen Deppe, Carly Jacobs, Amanda Friesen, Kevin B. Smith, and John R. Hibbing. Forthcoming. “Beyond Survey Self-Reports: Using Physiology to Tap Political Orientations,” International Journal of Public Opinion Research.
Wagner, Michael W. 2010. “Great Communicators? The Influence of Presidential Issue Framing on Party Identification, 1975-2000.” in Winning with Words: The Origins and Impacts of Framing, Brian F. Schaffner, Patrick J. Sellers, Eds., pp. 136-59. Routledge.
Wagner, Michael W. 2010. “Comparing the ANES and the NAES for Political Communication Research.” Sourcebook for Political Communication Research: Methods, Measures and Analytical Techniques, Erik P. Bucy and R. Lance Holbert, Eds., pp. 96-113 Routledge Press.
Carmines, Edward G., Jessica C. Gerrity, and Michael W. Wagner. 2010. “How Abortion Became a Partisan Issue: Media Coverage of the Interest Group-Political Party Connection.” Politics and Policy 38 (6): 1113-34.
Carmines, Edward G., Jessica C. Gerrity, and Michael W. Wagner. 2008. “Did the Media do it? The Influence of News Coverage on the 2006 Congressional Elections.” in Fault Lines, Jeffrey J. Mondak and Dona-Gene Mitchell, Eds., pp. 22-41. Routledge Press.
Wagner, Michael W. 2007. “The Utility of Staying on Message: Competing Partisan Frames and Public Awareness of Elite Differences on Issues.” The Forum, 5: 1-18.
Carmines, Edward G. and Michael W. Wagner. 2006. “Political Issues and Partisan Alignments: Assessing the Issue Evolution Perspective.” Annual Review of PoliticalScience, 9: 67-91.
Journalism and Media Effects
Wagner, Michael W. and Mike Gruszczynski. 2018. “Who Gets Covered? Ideological Extremity and News Coverage of the U.S. Congress, 1993 to 2013,” Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 95(3): 670-690.
Gruszczynski, Mike and Michael W. Wagner 2017. “Information Flow in the 21st Century: The Dynamics of Agenda Uptake,” Mass Communication and Society, 20(3): 378-402.
Wagner, Michael W. and Timothy P. Collins. 2014. “Does Ownership Matter? The Case of Rupert Murdoch’s Purchase of the Wall Street Journal,” Journalism Practice, 8 (6): 758-771.
Wagner, Michael W. 2015. “Does Specialization Matter? How Journalistic Expertise Explains Differences in Health Care Coverage” in Crucial Conversations: Meeting Health Information Needs Outside of Healthcare, Catherine Arnott Smith and Alla Keselman, eds.). Woodhead Publishing.
Political Behavior in the American Electorate
Theiss-Morse, Elizabeth, Michael W. Wagner, William H. Flanigan, and Nancy H. Zingale. 2015. Political Behavior in Midterm Elections. CQ Press.
Flanigan, William H., Nancy H. Zingale, Elizabeth A. Theiss-Morse, and Michael W. Wagner. 2014. Political Behavior in the American Electorate, 13th Edition. CQ Press.
Theiss-Morse, Elizabeth, Michael W. Wagner, William H. Flanigan, and Nancy H. Zingale. 2011. Political Behavior in Midterm Elections. CQ Press.
Religion and Politics
Friesen, Amanda and Michael W. Wagner. 2012. “Beyond the Three “Bs:” How American Christians Approach Faith and Politics.” Politics and Religion 5: 224-52.
Citizens, Rules, and Institutions
Winburn, Jonathan C. and Michael W. Wagner. 2010. “Carving Voters Out: Redistricting’s Influence on Political Information, Turnout, and Voting Behavior.” Political Research Quarterly 63 (2): 373-86.
Mycoff, Jason D., Michael W. Wagner, and David C. Wilson. 2009. “The Empirical Effect of Voter ID Laws on Turnout: Present or Absent?” PS: Political Science and Politics, 42 (1): 121-26.
Wagner, Michael W. 2007. “Beyond Policy Responsiveness in the U.S. House: Do Citizens Think Casework is Partisan?” American Politics Research, 35: 771-89.
Schaffner, Brian F., Michael W. Wagner, and Jonathan C. Winburn. 2004. “Incumbents Out,Party In? Term Limits and Partisan Redistricting in State Legislatures.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 4: 396-414.
Forum Editorship in Political Communication
Wagner, Michael W. 2024. Forum Editor’s Farewell: Long Live the Forum! Political Communication.
Teaching Journalism
The Deal on the Art. . .of Covering Donald Trump: Ten Strategies for Journalists (for Center for Journalism Ethics and PBS MediaShift)
7 Strategies for Teaching Student Journalists to Cover Midterm Elections (for PBS MediaShift)
9 Things the Best Political Reporters Do (for PBS MediaShift)
Teaching American Politics
Wagner, Michael W. Instructor’s Manual for American Politics Today, 3rd edition (and “Essentials” edition). 2013.W.W. Norton and Company.
Wagner, Michael W. Instructor’s Manual for American Politics Today, 2nd edition 2011.W.W. Norton and Company.
Wagner, Michael W. Instructor’s Manual for American Politics Today. 2009.W.W. Norton and Company.
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