Home » Scholars & Their Research » Scholar Profile

Amy Fried

fried.amy's picture

Co-Director of the Maine SSN Regional Network; Professor of Political Science, University of Maine

5754 North Stevens Hall, Rm. 115
Orono, Maine 04469
(207) 581-1797

Expertise & Civic Involvements

Fried examines how polls became important and analyzes their uses in U.S. politics and society. She teaches and writes about citizens’ political involvements and values, and is currently examining successful state marriage equality ballot initiatives. Fried is a member of the advisory committee for the Maine Community Foundation’s Policy Scholars Program, and works with students researching state-level public policy. As Rising Tide Policy Advocate, a position supported by a University of Maine National Science Foundation grant, Fried focuses on changing and implementing policies on career-life balance and fair and appropriate evaluation.

SSN Briefs

Key Publications

  • "Voting Restriction Politics in Maine" (with Emily Shaw). New England Journal of Political Science 6, no. 2 (2012): 293-333.
    Examines the politics and political organizing involved in an effort that restored same-day voter registration in Maine.
  • Pathways to Polling: Crisis, Cooperation, and the Making of Public Opinion Professions (Routledge Press, 2011).
    Relationships among market researchers, candidates, political parties, media audience analysts, government officials, academics, and journalists helped polling to take hold (even after the fiasco of mistakenly predicting that Dewey would beat Truman in 1948). Their cooperation and competition shaped how polls are used today.
  • "‘Negro Morale,’ the Japanese-American Internment, and U.S. Government Opinion Studies during World War II," American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, September, 2011.
    Shows how racial bigotry influenced public policy during the New Deal and Second World War. Government studies of African-American shipyard workers, farmers and draftees acknowledged discrimination, yet the suggested means of improving “Negro morale” frequently focused on public relations. Opinion researchers saw that post- Pearl Harbor responses to Japanese-Americans were driven by not just national security concerns, but also bias, hysteria, and economic jealousy.
  • "Maine’s Political Warriors: Senators Snowe and Collins, Congressional Moderates in a Partisan Era" (with Douglas B. Harris). New England Journal of Political Science 4, no. 1 (2010): 95-129.
    American politics has become more polarized, yet through the first two years of the Obama presidency, Maine’s U.S. Senators took a different path. The traditions of this small state provide a model for more substantive and civil politics.
  • "The Personalization of Collective Memory: The Smithsonian’s September 11 Exhibit" Political Communication 23, no. 4 (2006): 387-406.
    Shows how hard it was to go beyond personal and nationalistic themes to probe what led up to and followed the terrorist attacks of September 11.
  • "On Red Capes and Charging Bulls: How and Why Conservative Politicians and Interest Groups Promoted Public Anger" (with Douglas B. Harris), in What is It about Government that Americans Dislike?, edited by John R. Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse (Cambridge University Press, 2001), 157-174.
    Distrust in government has been cultivated by Republicans to help them win office, achieve their policy goals, give power to the institutions they control, and glean support for party and conservative movement organizations.
  • Muffled Echoes: Oliver North and the Politics of Public Opinion (Columbia University Press, 1997).
    Shows how public opinion is used as a political resource and often interpreted in self-serving ways. What the public thinks can be different from what the media and political figures say the public thinks.

Media Contributions

Fried writes a biweekly column (http://bangordailynews.com/author/amyfried/) and a blog (pollways.com) in the Bangor Daily News. She frequently comments on the radio and in print media.

Talks and Briefings

Fried regularly gives talks in Maine on public opinion and public policy, in venues ranging from libraries to colleges to churches and synagogues and groups such as the League of Women Voters. During the presidency of George W. Bush, Fried addressed Maine audiences about his proposals to privatize Social Security, as well as about media coverage of the run-up to the Iraq war. In fall 2012, Fried spoke to civic groups on health policy and on the potential impacts of the Ryan budget.
  • "Democracy, the Economy and Access to the Vote," Maine League of Voters State Convention, Portland, ME, June 1, 2013.