Tamas Bodor

BIO

Tamás Bodor has worked in various areas of applied communication research in Hungary and the United States. His academic research interest centers on the origins and nature of public opinion. As an extension to this research focus, he studies how survey methodological and contextual political communication factors (e.g. mass media coverage of the campaign and spiral of silence effects) may interact and contribute to the inaccuracy of pre-election and exit polls in U.S. and comparative contexts. For his research on the 2002 Hungarian polling disaster he received the 2008 Elizabeth H. Nelson Prize from the World Association for Public Opinion Research. Dr. Bodor extensively works with the spiral of silence theory, recently focusing on how the new media shape the dynamics of political opinion climates.

Research

• Political Communication: mass media effects on political communication, public opinion, and political behavior; public opinion theory
• ​Quantitative research methods: polling methodology

Selected Publications

• Bodor, T. (2013). Amerikai értékek Lakoff és a World Values Survey szembesítésében [American Values in Light of Lakoff and the World Values Survey]. In Értékek Fénykörében [Halo] 2nd edition. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó (in Hungarian)
• Bodor, T. (2012). The Issue of Timing and Opinion Congruity in Spiral of Silence Research: Why Does Research Suggest Limited Empirical Support for the Theory? International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 24(3) (Special Edition: 40 Years of the Spiral of Silence), 269-286. doi:10.1093/ijpor/eds016 [Lead Article]
• Bodor, T. (2012). Hungary’s “Black Sunday” of Public Opinion Research: The Anatomy of a Failed Election Forecast. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 24(4), 450-471 doi:10.1093/ijpor/edr039.
• Bodor, T. (2012). A Szigorú Apa és a Gondoskodó Szülő: Konzervatív és Liberális Értékrendszerek Mélystruktúrája az Egyesült Államokban [The Strict Father and the Nurturing Parent: Conservative and Liberar Value Systems in the United States]. Társadalomkutatás, 30(2), 125-137. (in Hungarian)

Selected Conference Papers

• Bodor T. & Varga K. (2015). The Tale of Two Regions: The Fragile Idea of a Sovereign Society. Paper presented at the annual conference of the World Association for Public Opinion Research, June, 16-19, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• Bodor T. (2015). Incongruity with Perceived Climate of Opinion or Locus of Opinion: What is the Key Independent Variable of the Spiral of Silence. Paper presented at the annual conference of the World Association for Public Opinion Research, June, 16-19, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• Bodor T. (2014). Does the Fragmentation of Political Information Environment Produce a Fragmented Opinion Climate? – Toward the Re-examination of Media Effect Theories in a Changing Media Landscape. Paper presented at the annual conference of the World Association for Public Opinion Research, September, 4-6, Nice, France.
• Bodor T. (2012). The Deep Structure of Conservative and Liberal Political Attitudes: An Empirical Exploration of Lakoff’s Strict Father and Nurturant Parent Models of Morality. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Midwest Political Science Association, April, 12-15, 2012. Chicago, Illinois.
• Bodor, T. (2011). The Issue of Timing and Opinion Congruity in Spiral of Silence Research: Why does Research Suggest Limited Empirical Support for the Theory? Paper presented at the annual conference of the World Association for Public Opinion Research, September 21-23, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• Bodor, T. (2010). The 2004 U.S. Exit Poll Controversy Revisited: Why Were Bush Voters Reluctant to Participate in the Exit Polls? Paper presented at the annual conference of the World Association for Public Opinion Research, May 11-13, Chicago, Illinois.