Overview
Nick Carnes joined the faculty at the Sanford School in July 2011. He is a political scientist whose research focuses on American politics, economic and social class inequality, and political representation.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Z. Smith Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Public Policy Studies
·
2024 - Present
Sanford School of Public Policy
Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy
·
2022 - Present
Sanford School of Public Policy
Professor of Sociology
·
2022 - Present
Sociology,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Recent Publications
Are There Social Class Gaps in Nascent Political Ambition? Survey Evidence from the Americas
Journal Article Journal of Politics · October 1, 2025 Why do so few working-class citizens go on to hold elected office in democracies? This article tests an explanation motivated by the larger literature on descriptive representation, namely, differences in nascent ambition. Are workers less likely to be per ... Full text CiteNot Getting the Message on Climate? Attention as a Key Barrier to Mass-Marketing Experimentally-Validated Messages
Journal Article British Journal of Political Science · August 11, 2025 Scholars often use survey experiments to evaluate political messages’ persuasive effects, but messages developed in the lab do not always persuade in real-world campaigns. In this research note, we report three experiments on one central obstacle in lab-to ... Full text CiteThe Global Legislators Database: Characteristics of National Legislators in the World's Democracies
Journal Article British Journal of Political Science · February 17, 2025 This article describes the Global Legislators Database, a new cross-national dataset on the characteristics - party affiliation, gender, age, education, and occupational background - of nearly 20,000 national parliamentarians in the world's democracies. Th ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
2021 Waterman Award
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2021 - 2027Understanding the Post-Pandemic Foster Home Shortage in North Carolina: Evidence from Interviews with County DSS Leaders
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by NC Policy Collaboratory · 2024 - 2026View All Grants
Education, Training & Certifications
Princeton University ·
2011
Ph.D.
Princeton University ·
2008
M.A.
The University of Tulsa ·
2006
A.B.