John Geer is Senior Advisor to the Chancellor, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair, and Co-Director of the Vanderbilt Poll.

He earned his PhD from Princeton University and his BA from Franklin and Marshall College. He is a past editor of The Journal of Politics and has published widely on campaigns, elections, and public opinion. His book In Defense of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns won Harvard University’s Goldsmith Prize. He also published the sixth edition of Gateways to Democracy in 2024.

Geer has provided extensive commentary in the news media about American politics, including live nationwide interviews for FOX, CNN, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, ABC, NPR, and the BBC. He has also written numerous op-eds for Politico, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, and The Tennessean.

His teaching has earned him several awards at Vanderbilt, including the “Squirrel Award,” the Birkby Prize, the Jeffrey Nordhaus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the Ellen Gregg Ingalls Award for Excellence in Classroom Teaching, and the Vanderbilt Alumni Education Award.