Geosciences Professor Selected as Editor of Prestigious 2020 Election Atlas

T. Paradise

Professor Fiona Davidson in Istanbul, Turkey.

Fiona Davidson, associate professor of geography and geosciences, will be serving as one of the three senior editors of the upcoming prestigious ATLAS of the 2020 Presidential Election.

This is the fourth in a series of Presidential Election Atlases and the 2016 version was one of the top 10 most requested English-language reference books in 2018.

Davidson will work as part of a team of geographers, political scientists and historians who will provide "a comprehensive examination of the election process from the primary campaigns and nominating conventions to the fall campaign and final results," according to publishers Rowan & Littlefield.

In addition to the upcoming presidential election, the atlas will include full coverage of all congressional races, state races, and state and local referenda. This essential atlas will contain hundreds of full-color maps at local to national scales. The atlas will be "the essential reference on the election and will be a fascinating and vital resource for pundits, voters, campaign staff and political junkies alike." 

Tom Daschle, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, has described the prior Atlas from the Clinton-Trump election — in which Davidson was a co-editor — as the "definitive resource for anyone interested in the whys behind the 2016 election upset. Brilliant maps throughout explain not only traditional patterns such as demographics and campaign dollars, but also more unexpected factors such as the states or countries mentioned in debates, social media use and the influence of newspaper endorsements. This superb atlas will stand as the go-to reference for understanding voters and elections at all levels — from presidential to state and local."

Davidson, a native Scot, comes from a diverse background in political geography, cartography, political science and economics from Newcastle University, United Kingdom, and the University of Nebraska. She was considered to be the best candidate to oversee the data compilation, analysis, writing and cartography of this vital resource book.

Davidson has taught and conducted research at the U of A in the Department of Geosciences since 1992, having advised more than 50 honors students and 25 graduate students, and has written books and papers on U.K. and U.S. politics, nationalism and regionalism since her time in Arkansas.