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Tabitha Bonilla

Associate Professor of Human Development and Social Policy and Political Science

PhD, Political Science, Stanford University, 2015
Curriculum Vitae

Interests

Research Interest(s): Political Behavior, Identity, Communication

Program Area(s): Methods; American Politics

Regional Specialization(s): United States

Subfield Specialties: Methods; Political Parties; Public Opinion, Political Communication, and Political Participation; Race, Ethnicity and Politics

Tabitha Bonilla studies political behavior, identity, communication and broadly examines how the public understands politics and policy. One area of her work focuses on the effects of campaign rhetoric on voter perceptions of representation and voter mobilization. A second area of research focuses on how the public understands policies and social movements and subsequent consequences on support and access. Across her work, she focuses on how messaging polarizes attitudes or can bridge attitudinal divides, how norms and political socialization vary, and how perceptions of policy can lead to incomplete resource distribution. Her work incorporates a range of methods including surveys, experiments, interviews, and text analysis.  

Bonilla earned her PhD in political science in 2015 from Stanford University. She then worked as a postdoctoral scholar and teaching fellow in the political science department at the University of Southern California through 2016.

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