Her research focuses on American political parties, race, ethnicity and gender, and congressional politics. She is the co-author with Steven Greene of The Politics of Parenthood Causes and Consequences of the Politicization and Polarization of the American Family (forthcoming Sept. 2012, SUNY Press). The book traces rising emphasis on parenthood in contemporary American politics. Elder’s research and the subject of her forthcoming book look at the political impact of having and raising children, and how this becomes a politically defining experience that shapes the political attitudes of Americans on a range of important policy issues.