Cliff Zukin, Ph.D.

Cliff Zukin is Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at Rutgers’ Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Policy and the Eagleton Institute of Politics. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Heldrich Center. Zukin received a Ph.D. in Political Science from The Ohio State University in 1978. He teaches graduate courses in survey research, research methods, public opinion, and data analysis. His research interests are in the fields of public opinion, New Jersey and national elections, and survey research.

Zukin's recent academically-oriented publications include, “A New Engagement? Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen” (with co-authors, Oxford University Press, 2006) and “The American Public and the Next Social Contract: Public Opinion and Political Culture in 2007,” published by the New America Foundation.

Zukin is co-director of the Heldrich Center’s Work Trends series, which has recently conducted first-in-the-nation studies of recent college graduates and of unemployed Americans during the Great Recession in the latter part of this decade. Recent reports in this series include, "The Anguish of Unemployment," "Out of Work and Losing Hope: The Misery and Bleak Expectation of American Workers," and “Unfulfilled Expectations: Recent College Graduates Struggle in a Troubled Economy."

Zukin is a recent past president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, the leading organization for public opinion and survey researchers in the country. He previously served for 15 years on both the Board of Advisors for the Pew Center for the People and the Press, and as an election eve analyst for NBC news. He also serves on the editorial board of Public Opinion Quarterly, the leading scientific journal in the field.

Recent Publications:

Diminished Lives and Futures: A Portrait of America in the Great-Recession Era (February 2013)

Left Out. Forgotten? Recent High School Graduates and the Great Recession (June 2012)

Net Impact's Talent Report: What Workers Want in 2012 (May 2012)

Chasing the American Dream: Recent College Graduates and the Great Recession (May 2012)

Categorizing the Unemployed by the Impact of the Recession (December 2011)

The Long-Term Unemployed and Unemployment Insurance: Evidence from a Panel Study of Workers Who Lost a Job During the Great Recession (November 2011)

Out of Work and Losing Hope: The Misery and Bleak Expectations of American Workers (September 2011)

Unfulfilled Expectations: Recent College Graduates Struggle in a Troubled Economy (May 2011)

Unemployed Workers and the Great Recession (February 2011)