About me

Professor and vice head of department at the Department of political science, University of Gothenburg.

Co-Head of The Gothenburg research group on Elections, Public opinion and political behavior (GEPOP).

Co-organizer of the annual Nordic Workshop on Political Behavior.

I study political behavior and public opinion.

My CV can be downloaded here

My Google Scholar profile can be found here.

Education and positions

Professor, Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, May 2020.

Vice head of department (with responsibility for the graduate studies program)}, Department of political science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden (since July 2018)

Co-head of the Gothenburg Research Group on Elections, Public Opinion and Political Behavior (GEPOP) (since October 2019)}

Associate Professor (Docent), Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, March 2015

Research fellow, Department of Government, Uppsala University (part time, 2014-2016).

Visiting Researcher, Department of Economics, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. Fall 2015.

Visiting Associate, Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. Spring 2014.

PhD, Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, December 2013.

MA, Practical Philosophy, Lund University, Sweden, March 2007.

MA, Political Science, Lund University, Sweden, March 2006.

Selected publications

Lucas, Jack, Lior Sheffer, Peter Loewen, Stefaan Walgrave, Karolin Soontjens, Eran Amsalem, Stefanie Bailer, Nathalie Brack, Christian Breunig, Pirmin Bundi, Linda Coufalová, Patrick Dumont, Sarah Lachance, Miguel Pereira, Mikael Persson, Jean-Benoit Pilet, Anne Rasmussen, Maj-Britt Sterba, and Frédéric Varone. Forthcoming. “Politicians’ Theories of Voting Behavior.” American Political Science Review.

Schakel, Wouter, Mikael Persson and Anders Sundell. (Forthcoming). “The Economic and Cultural Dimensions of Unequal Representation.” Socio-Economic Review.

Lindqvist, Jesper, Mikael Persson and Anders Sundell. (Forthcoming). “Is Opinion-Policy Congruence Rewarded at the Ballot Box?” Electoral Studies.

Soontjens, Karolin and Mikael Persson. (Forthcoming). “Lacking Incentives, not Information: Why politicians are less responsive to lower income citizens.” Legislative Studies Quarterly.

Mathisen, Ruben, Wouter Schakel, Svenja Hense, Lea Elsässer, Mikael Persson and Jonas Pontusson. (2023). “Unequal Responsiveness and Government Partisanship in Northwest Europe”, in Noam Lupu and Jonas Pontusson (eds.), Unequal Democracies: Public Policy, Responsiveness, and Redistribution in an Era of Rising Economic Inequality (pp. 29–53). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Persson, Mikael, Wouter Schakel and Anders Sundell (Forthcoming). “A Man’s World? The Policy Representation of Women and Men in a Comparative Perspective.” Perspectives on Politics.

Persson, Mikael (Forthcoming). “Who Got What They Wanted? Investigating the Role of Institutional Agenda Setting, Costly Policies, and Status Quo Bias as Explanations to Income Based Unequal Responsiveness” Journal of European Public Policy.

Persson, Mikael and Anders Sundell (Forthcoming). “The Rich Have a Slight Edge: Evidence from Comparative Data on Income Based Inequality in Policy Congruence.” British Journal of Political Science.

Guntermann, Eric, and Mikael Persson. 2021. “Issue Voting and Government Responsiveness to Policy Preferences.” Political Behavior, 1–24.

Persson, Mikael. 2021. “From Opinions to Policies: Examining the Links Between Citizens, Representatives, and Policy Change.” Electoral Studies 74: 102413.

Persson, Mikael, Klas Andersson, Pär Zetterberg, Joakim Ekman, and Simon Lundin. 2020. “Does Deliberative Education Increase Civic Competence? Results from a Field Experiment.” Journal of Experimental Political Science 7 (3): 199–208.

Esaiasson, Peter, Mikael Persson, Mikael Gilljam, and Torun Lindholm. 2019. “Reconsidering the Role of Procedures for Decision Acceptance.” British Journal of Political Science 49 (1): 291–314.

Lindgren, Karl-Oskar, Sven Oskarsson, and Mikael Persson. 2019. “Access to Education and Political Candidacy: Lessons from School Openings in Sweden.” Economics of Education Review 69: 138–48.

Lindgren, Karl-Oskar, Sven Oskarsson, and Mikael Persson. 2019. “Enhancing Electoral Equality: Can Education Compensate for Family Background Differences in Voting Participation?” American Political Science Review 113 (1): 108–22.

Persson, Mikael, and Johan Martinsson. 2018. “Patrimonial Economic Voting and Asset Value–New Evidence from Taxation Register Data.” British Journal of Political Science 48 (3): 825–42.

Healy, Andrew J, Mikael Persson, and Erik Snowberg. 2017. “Digging into the Pocketbook: Evidence on Economic Voting from Income Registry Data Matched to a Voter Survey.” American Political Science Review 111 (4): 771–85.

Esaiasson, Peter, Mikael Gilljam, and Mikael Persson. 2017. “Responsiveness Beyond Policy Satisfaction: Does It Matter to Citizens?” Comparative Political Studies 50 (6): 739–65.

Esaiasson, Peter, Mikael Gilljam, and Mikael Persson. 2017. “Political Support in the Wake of Policy Controversies”, in Carolien van Ham, and others (eds), Myth and Reality of the Legitimacy Crisis. Explaining Trends and Cross-National Differences in Established Democracies. Oxford University Press.

Persson, Mikael, Karl-Oskar Lindgren, and Sven Oskarsson. 2016. “How Does Education Affect Adolescents’ Political Development?” Economics of Education Review 53: 182–93.

Gilljam, Mikael and Mikael Persson. (2015). Den allmänna opinionen: En introducerande handbok. Stockholm: Liber. (Introductory textbook on public opinion research. If you want a printed copy, e-mail me and I’ll send you one for free).

Bakker, Bert N, David Nicolas Hopmann, and Mikael Persson. 2015. “Personality Traits and Party Identification over Time.” European Journal of Political Research 54 (2): 197–215.

Persson, Mikael. 2015. “Classroom Climate and Political Learning: Findings from a Swedish Panel Study and Comparative Data.” Political Psychology 36 (5): 587–601.

Persson, Mikael. 2015. “Education and Political Participation.” British Journal of Political Science 45 (3): 689–703.

Dahlberg, Stefan, and Mikael Persson. 2014. “Different Surveys, Different Results? A Comparison of Two Surveys on the 2009 European Parliamentary Election.” West European Politics 37 (1): 204–21.

Esaiasson, Peter, and Mikael Persson. 2014. “Does Studying Political Science Affect Civic Attitudes?: A Panel Comparison of Students of Politics, Law, and Mass Communication.” Journal of Political Science Education 10 (4): 375–85.

Persson, Mikael. 2014. “Does Survey Participation Increase Voter Turnout? Re-Examining the Hawthorne Effect in the Swedish National Election Studies.” Political Science Research and Methods 2 (2): 297.

Persson, Mikael. 2014. “Social Network Position Mediates the Effect of Education on Active Political Party Membership.” Party Politics 20 (5): 724–39.

Persson, Mikael. 2014. “Testing the Relationship Between Education and Political Participation Using the 1970 British Cohort Study.” Political Behavior 36 (4): 877–97.

Persson, Mikael, and Maria Solevid. 2014. “Measuring Political Participation—Testing Social Desirability Bias in a Web-Survey Experiment.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 26 (1): 98–112.

Persson, Mikael, Peter Esaiasson, and Mikael Gilljam. 2013. “The Effects of Direct Voting and Deliberation on Legitimacy Beliefs: An Experimental Study of Small Group Decision-Making.” European Political Science Review 5 (3): 381–99.

Persson, Mikael. 2013. “Is the Effect of Education on Voter Turnout Absolute or Relative? A Multi-Level Analysis of 37 Countries.” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties 23 (2): 111–33.

Esaiasson, Peter, Mikael Gilljam, and Mikael Persson. 2012. “Which Decision-Making Arrangements Generate the Strongest Legitimacy Beliefs? Evidence from a Randomised Field Experiment.” European Journal of Political Research 51 (6): 785–808.

Gilljam, Mikael, Mikael Persson, and David Karlsson. 2012. “Representatives’ Attitudes Toward Citizen Protests in Sweden: The Impact of Ideology, Parliamentary Position, and Experiences.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 37 (2): 251–68.

Persson, Mikael. 2012. “Does Type of Education Affect Political Participation? Results from a Panel Survey of Swedish Adolescents.” Scandinavian Political Studies 35 (3): 198–221.

Persson, Mikael, and Henrik Oscarsson. 2010. “Did the Egalitarian Reforms of the Swedish Educational System Equalise Levels of Democratic Citizenship?” Scandinavian Political Studies 33 (2): 135–63.

Teaching and supervision

I have taught about 5000 hours on all levels. I have been supervisor for 32 completed student theses. Since 2018 I’m responsible for the PhD Program in political science at the University of Gothenburg.

So for I have supervised the following PhD students:

Main supervisor:

Moa Frödin Gruneau: Graduated September 2020. Placement after PhD: postdoc at University of Gothenburg with funding from the Swedish Research Council (VR).

Love Christensen: Graduated February 2022. Placement after PhD: postdoc at Aarhus University, Denmark.

Laura Lungu: 2018-

Hilma Lindskog: 2022-

Assistant supervisor

Sebastian Lundmark: Placement after PhD: postdoc at Stanford University, US.

Prisca Jöst: Placement after PhD: postdoc at University of Konstanz, Germany.

Elias Markstedt, sheduled for 2024.

Eva Hoxha: 2023-.

Emmi Verleyen: 2022- (University of Antwerp).