Rate My Professor Brandon Rottinghaus

Brandon Rottinghaus is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Houston, a position he has held since 2007, progressing from Assistant Professor (2007-2011) to Associate Professor (2011-2016) and Full Professor (2016-present). He previously served as Assistant Professor and Director of the Bureau of Public Affairs Research at the University of Idaho (2004-2007). Rottinghaus earned a B.A. in Political Science from Purdue University in 1999, an M.A. in 2001, and a Ph.D. in 2005 from Northwestern University. His research interests encompass the American presidency, political scandals, public opinion, Texas politics, political communication, and executive-legislative relations. He teaches courses on the presidency, political scandals, public opinion, and Texas politics.

Rottinghaus has authored or co-authored numerous books, including Scandal: Why Politicians Survive Controversy in a Partisan Era (Columbia University Press, forthcoming November 2025), Rick Perry: A Political Life (University of Texas Press, 2024), Inside Texas Politics: Politics, Policy and Personality in the Lone Star State, Fourth Edition (Oxford University Press, 2024), The Dual Executive: Presidential Unilateral Power in a Separated and Shared Power System (with Michelle Belco, Stanford University Press, 2016), The Institutional Effects of Executive Scandal (Cambridge University Press, 2015), and The Provisional Pulpit: Modern Presidential Leadership of Public Opinion (Texas A&M University Press, 2010). His peer-reviewed publications include articles such as “Do Scandals Matter?” (Political Research Quarterly, 2023), “Presidential Pitches and White House Pressure” (Presidential Studies Quarterly, 2021), and “Presidential Greatness in a Polarized Era” (PS: Political Science & Politics, 2020). Among his honors are the University of Houston College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Distinguished Faculty Award (2024) and the Patrick J. Fett Award for the Best Paper on the Scientific Study of Congress and the Presidency (2011). Rottinghaus co-directs the Presidential Greatness Project, which surveys scholars on presidential rankings, co-hosts Party Politics on Houston Public Media, serves as a political analyst for KHOU 11 News, and hosts Texperts, a political primer on Houston Public Media. He held the Pauline Yelderman Chair at the University of Houston from 2018 to 2021.