Christopher Wlezien is Hogg Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin.  He received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1989 and his B.A. from Saint Xavier College (Chicago) in 1984 and previously taught at Oxford University, the University of Houston, and Temple University.  He also has holds or has held visiting positions at various universities, including Australian National University, European University Institute (Florence), Juan March Institute (Madrid), University of Mannheim (Germany), Sciences Po (Paris), and the University of Manchester (UK).

His primary, ongoing research develops a “thermostatic” model of public opinion and policy and examines the dynamic interrelationships between preferences and policy in various domains. A cross-national investigation focusing on the US, the UK, and Canada is the subject of a book titled Degrees of Democracy, published by Cambridge University Press.

His other major area of research addresses the evolution of voter preferences expressed in pre-election polls over the course of the election cycle. It has been the subject of numerous articles on the US and a book The Timeline of Presidential Elections that was published by the University of Chicago Press. 

Wlezien was founding co-editor of the international Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, and he currently is Associate Editor of Public Opinion Quarterly, Research and Politics, and Parliamentary Affairs and a member of the editorial boards of six other journals. At the University of Texas, he is chair of the methods field in the Department of Government and a faculty affiliate of the Policy Agendas Project and the Center for European Studies.