The success of the Michigan Election Studies, and the additional political research they generated, justified the establishment of a new center at ISR devoted to political research on issues such as individual voting behavior, media and politics, and institutional effects on policies and individual behavior. Warren Miller, for years the principal investigator of the Michigan Election Studies, was the first director. Kent Jennings, shown on the left in the photo with Phil Converse, served as Principal Investigator on the path-breaking work on the Political Socialization of Youth, 1965-1997.

SRC and ISR co-founder Campbell, an experimental psychologist who moved into social psychology and large-scale quantitative research, was known for his research on political behavior, race relations, public affairs, and quality of life.