My name is Kendall Curtis (she/her), and I am a sixth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin. My research agenda focuses on political parties, legislative institutions, and voter behavior in parliamentary democracies across Europe. I study how the constraints imposed by legislative institutions influence party decisions and color the way voters evaluate parties’ brands. My dissertation examines how coalition governance affects voter perceptions of parties and legislative outcomes, as well as how parties strategically balance policy-making goals and electoral costs in coalitions.
I am also working on a collaborative project that studies how voters assign responsibility to parties for early elections and cabinet terminations depending on the cause.