Rodrigo Castro Cornejo

Rodrigo Castro Cornejo serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science within the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. He also holds the position of Associate Director at the university's Center for Public Opinion and acts as co-principal investigator for the Mexican Election Study (ENEM), which forms part of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) international project.

His research focuses on the intersection of survey methodology, public opinion formation, and political behavior. Castro Cornejo's work particularly examines how partisanship, affective polarization, and motivated reasoning shape voter attitudes and electoral decisions in democratic contexts. His scholarship also investigates clientelism, vote-buying practices, and the resilience of democratic attitudes amid rising democratic backsliding.

Analysis of his 15 most recent publications reveals a consistent focus on Mexican electoral politics with methodological sophistication spanning experimental designs, multilevel regression modeling, and comparative survey research. His work demonstrates interdisciplinary reach across political psychology, electoral studies, and Latin American politics, with a recurring emphasis on polarization dynamics and electoral integrity.

Castro Cornejo previously held positions as Assistant Professor at CIDE in Mexico City and as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Virginia. His academic trajectory includes significant affiliation with the University of Notre Dame, where he completed his doctoral studies as a Kellogg Institute for International Studies PhD Fellow.

His advising contributions center on graduate research in political methodology and Latin American politics, while his institutional leadership includes directing survey research initiatives through the Center for Public Opinion. His laboratory work primarily involves the Mexican Election Study team, which conducts methodologically rigorous comparative electoral research across multiple election cycles.