Bill Schneider

Photo of Bill Schneider
Titles and Organizations

Professor Emeritus

Contact Information

bschneid@gmu.edu
Phone: 202-713-5450
Arlington Campus, Founders Hall
3351 Fairfax Dr.
Arlington, Virginia 22201
MS 3B1

Biography

Bill Schneider is Professor Emeritus at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He was the Cable News Network’s senior political analyst from 1990 to 2009. He has been a visiting professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, Boston College and Brandeis University.

Schneider is the author of Standoff: How America Became Ungovernable, published by Simon & Schuster in May 2018.

Schneider has covered every U.S. presidential and midterm election since 1976 for The Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic Monthly, CNN and Al Jazeera English. Schneider has been labeled "the nation's electionmeister" by The Washington Times and "the Aristotle of American politics" by The Boston Globe. Campaigns and Elections Magazine called him "the most consistently intelligent analyst on television." He was a member of the CNN political team that won an Emmy for its 2006 election coverage and a Peabody for its 2008 coverage.

Schneider received his B.A. from Brandeis University and his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University. From 1990 through 1995, he was the Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Visiting Professor of American Politics at Boston College. In 2002, he was the Fred and Rita Richman Distinguished Visiting Professor at Brandeis University. 

In 2003, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University awarded Schneider its Centennial Medal for contributions to society. In 2001, he received the Julian P. Kanter Award for Excellence in Television from the American Association of Political Consultants. He is also the recipient of an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Brandeis University in 2008.

In 2009, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems presented Schneider with a special award "for his extensive coverage and keen insight of the 2008 United States presidential elections . . . showcasing democracy in action" to the world.

Bill Schneider is co-author, with Seymour Martin Lipset, of The Confidence Gap: Business, Labor and Government in the Public Mind. He has also written extensively on politics and public opinion for The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Politico, Reuters, National Journal, the Huffington Post and NBC News "Think." 

Areas of Research

  • Elections
  • Mass Media
  • Political Communication
  • Public Opinion
  • U.S. Politics