Department of Political Science

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The Department of Political Science

Graduate Student Wataru Onishi Awarded Prestigious APSA Spring Centennial Research Grant

Ph.D. student Wataru Onishi has received an APSA Centennial Center Research Grant for his innovative study on how ordinary members of Congress might help reduce partisan hostility by revealing internal diversity within their parties.
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Late adolescents entering college intending a career as police officers hold more right-leaning views than their peers

New research by Professor Ben Newman, published in PNAS, examines the political attitudes of college-bound students who aspire to careers in law enforcement. Drawing on survey data from over 13 million adolescents collected over four decades, the study finds that...
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Can Digital Tech Actually Help Save Democracy?

The relationship between democracy and digital technology is often cast in pessimistic terms—marked by polarization, misinformation, and online hostility. But what if the same tools that threaten democratic life could also help renew it? In a recent IGCC blog post...
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Graduate Student Bea-Sim Ooi Awarded Prestigious APSA Summer Centennial Research Grant

We are proud to announce that UCR Political Science graduate student Bea-Sim Ooi has been awarded a Second Century Fund grant through the American Political Science Association’s Summer Centennial Center Research Grants program. This highly competitive award supports graduate students...
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Recent Publications

Kim, In Song, Steven Liao, and Sayumi Miyano. “How FDI Reshapes Host Markets’ Trade Profile and Politics.” American Journal of Political Science, September 12, 2025, ajps.70010. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.70010.
Lee, Jieun, and Harry G. Muttram. 2025. “American Immigration Attitudes and NIMBYism: Do Immigration Preferences Vary by Spatial Scale?” PS: Political Science & Politics, October 3, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096525101467.
Willis, Nicholas T., and Indridi H. Indridason. “No Hard Feelings? The Effects of Competition on Vote Transfers in Two-Round Elections.” French Politics 23, no. 2 (2025): 174–216. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41253-025-00277-4.
Bishin, Benjamin G., and Harry G. Muttram. “When Are Identities Politically Consequential? Identifying Conditions of Descriptive, Substantive, and Allied Group Identity.” The Forum 21, no. 3 (2024): 339–57. https://doi.org/10.1515/for-2023-2026.

Carreras, Miguel, Sofia Vera, and Giancarlo Visconti. “Money and Time in Access to Public Services: How Do Citizens Evaluate Different Forms of Bureaucratic Corruption?” Comparative Politics 57, no. 3 (2025): 343–65. https://doi.org/10.5129/001041524X17302980129542.
DeMora, Stephanie L., Christian Lindke, Sean Long, Jennifer L. Merolla, and Maricruz A. Osorio. “The Effect of the Political Environment on White Women’s Political Ambition.” Political Research Quarterly 76, no. 4 (2023): 1987–2003. https://doi.org/10.1177/10659129231186572.
Wang, Ding, Jennifer L. Merolla, and Arielle Manganiello. “The Effect of Counterstereotypic Gender Strategies on Candidate Evaluations in American Elections.” Politics & Gender 19, no. 4 (2023): 1180–203. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X23000314.
Landgrave, Michelangelo, Nicholas Weller, and Jacob Authement. “Do Public Housing Agencies Discriminate Against Latinos?: A Large-Scale Replication Study to Assess Discrimination.” Journal of Behavioral Public Administration 6 (August 2023). https://doi.org/10.30636/jbpa.61.325.

Liao, Steven, and Daniel McDowell. “Closing Time: Reputational Constraints on Capital Account Policy in Emerging Markets.” The Review of International Organizations 17, no. 3 (2022): 543–68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11558-021-09433-1.

Godrej, Farah. Freedom inside? Yoga and Meditation in the Carceral State. Oxford Scholarship Online. Oxford University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190070083.001.0001.

Ferrari, Diogo. “The Effect of Party Identification and Party Cues on Populist Attitudes.” Research & Politics 9, no. 4 (2022): 20531680221142693. https://doi.org/10.1177/20531680221142693.

See more publications here.

Insights

debate stage
November 07, 2025
Candidates for governor face off on healthcare and economic issues
Four of the leading Democratic candidates for California governor sparred off on healthcare, housing, and economic issues Friday, Nov. 7, at a debate at UC Riverside. UCR co-hosted the event organized by 11 nonpartisan California health-focused advocacy organizations.
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Prop 50 election instructions booklet
October 29, 2025
With Prop 50, is Cali voting on Trump, Texas, or both?
In August, Texas state legislators voted for a mid-decade redistricting plan that is likely to turn five U.S. House of Representatives seats from Democrat to Republican. Soon after, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a retaliatory effort, a special election in which California voters are asked to approve new congressional maps drawn by Democrats, bypassing the state’s independent redistricting commission. The plan would likely flip five red seats to blue. Republican donors including Charles Munger Jr.
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The U.S. Capitol lit up at night.
September 16, 2025
Representation translates into more support for LGBT rights 
In a study published in PS: Political Science & Politics, University of California, Riverside researchers found that openly lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) members of the United States Congress took more actions to promote LGB and trans people’s rights than non-LGB colleagues with otherwise similar backgrounds. 
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Texas congressional districts
August 12, 2025
Gerrymandering erodes confidence in democracy
UCR political science professor Shaun Bowler used survey data from tens of thousands of voters in the 2020 and 2022 elections show that Americans view gerrymandering with the same disdain they reserve for bribery and other blatant forms of political corruption.
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