Eric L. McDaniel is a professor in the Department of Government and the co-director of the PRE Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. His research examines how the intersection of race and religion influence the American political landscape. His first book, “Politics in the Pews: The Political Mobilization of Black Churches” (University of Michigan Press, 2008) provides an explanation for why some Black churches choose to engage the political world while others do not. His most recent book, “The Everyday Crusade: Christian Nationalism in American Politics“ (Cambridge University Press, 2022), co-authored with Irfan Nooruddin and Allyson Shortle, explores the ramifications of Americans believing that their nation is God’s chosen nation. Focusing specifically on how this belief influences how Americans come to understand themselves and the nation’s place in the world, the book demonstrates the pervasive power of American religious nationalism.  

McDaniel is currently working on two book projects. The first examines how religious belief systems influence social, political, and health behaviors. Focusing on the social and prosperity gospels, his work examines how these distinct religious worldviews create political cleavages within and across religious traditions. Parts of this research have been published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Political Research Quarterly, and the National Review of Black Politics. The other project examines what Americans mean when they talk about freedom. An earlier project examining how Americans apply religious freedom, which was co-authored with Andrew Lewis, was published in PS: Political Science and Politics.

McDaniel is a graduate of Wilberforce University, the oldest private historically Black college or university, and took his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He has been awarded two grants from the National Science Foundation and from 2008-10 was a health policy scholar for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at the University of California, Berkely. Currently, he serves as a PRRI affiliated scholar.