Gary M. Segura

Biosketch

Gary M. Segura is Professor of Public Policy in the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA, where he served as dean from 2017 through 2022. Segura received a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola University, New Orleans, and a Master and Doctoral degrees in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He previously served on the faculties of Stanford University, University of Washington, University of Iowa, Claremont Graduate University, and the University of California, Davis. Segura was one of the Principal Investigators of both the 2012 and 2016 American National Election Studies, had previously led the expansion of the 2008 American National Election Studies through the incorporation of Latino oversamples and the Spanish language, and was one of the Principal Investigators of the Latino National Survey, in 2006. He is a past president of both the Midwest Political Science Association and the Western Political Science Association, and a past Vice-President of the American Political Science Association. He is a past president of El Sector Latino de la Ciencia Política (Latino Caucus in Political Science). In 2010, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Research Interests

Dr. Segura is a scholar of public opinion and survey research, and he is particularly interested in the quality and equity of representation across population segments, and culturally competent survey research. His work is principally focused on three topics: how information shapes democratic choice among citizens, the impact of opinion on domestic politics during international conflict, and the politics of inequality of both the Latinos and LGBT Americans. Among his most recent publications are Calculated War: The Public and a Theory of Conflict, with Scott S. Gartner (Cambridge University Press, 2021); Politics of the Nation with Matt Barreto (Public Affairs Press, 2014). Earlier work has been published in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, and Journal of Politics, among many others. Since 1996, Segura has directed polling research that has completed hundreds of thousands of interviews of Americans of all backgrounds on matters of political importance. He has appeared on National Public Radio, the News Hour, Frontline, the CBS Evening News, and MSNBC. Segura was an expert witness on the nature of political power in all three of landmark LGBT marriage rights cases in 2013 and 2015, Windsor v. United States, Hollingsworth v Perry, and the historic Obergefell v. Hodges, which recognized marriage equality as a constitutionally protected right.