About

Laura R. Olson is Thurmond Professor of Political Science and affiliated faculty in Religious Studies at Clemson University. She has been a two-time U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Italy (University of Bari, 2020 and 2025), president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (2020), and editor-in-chief of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. A native of Racine, Wisconsin, USA, she earned a B.A. in political science from Northwestern University in 1990, as well as an M.A. (1991) and Ph.D. (1996) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on contemporary religion and politics with emphases on public opinion and civic engagement. Her work has appeared in leading scholarly journals including Political Research Quarterly, Social Science Quarterly, and the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. She is the author, coauthor, or coeditor of nine books, most recently Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices (Routledge, 2018), Beyond Red State, Blue State: Electoral Gaps in the Twenty-First Century American Electorate (Prentice Hall, 2008), and Religious Interests in Community Conflict: Beyond the Culture Wars (Baylor University Press, 2007). She has received support for her research from the Louisville Institute, the Global Religion Research Initiative at the University of Notre Dame, and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. She spent an academic year as a visiting research fellow at the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University and has served on the executive boards of the Southern Political Science Association, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, the Public Religion Research Institute, the Religious Research Association, the Women’s Caucus for Political Science-South, and the American Academy of Religion’s Committee for the Public Understanding of Religion. A frequent source for various media outlets, she has been interviewed on CNN, National Public Radio, and BBC Radio and quoted in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today. She also won Clemson University’s campus-wide Fluor Daniel Student Government Excellence in Teaching Award in 2003.

Research Interests

Europe (Central and Eastern), Comparative Politics, Elections, Interest Groups, Islam, Political Participation, Political Psychology, Religion, Social Movements, USA, Voting, Political Sociology, Immigration, Political Engagement, Political Ideology, Public Opinion, Southern Europe, Survey Research, Voting Behaviour

Current/Upcoming Events

Standing Groups and Research Networks

• Religion and Politics