About
Nicole WIllcoxon
Expert

Nicole E. Willcoxon

Nonresident Fellow – Governance Studies

Nicole E. Willcoxon is a Nonresident Fellow in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution. Dr. Willcoxon also serves as a Senior Research Consultant and Account Lead at Gallup, where she oversees complex and innovative survey research projects for a diverse set of clients. Dr. Willcoxon is a political scientist and public opinion researcher with over a decade of applied experience. She has managed dozens of social science research studies at the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, in the private sector, and at the Public Policy Institute of California. Her research interests include voting rights, democratic and legal institutions, race and ethnicity in US politics, equity, media, elections, and political behavior. As a postdoctoral scholar, Dr. Willcoxon helped establish the Center on Democracy and Organizing at UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies. Her dissertation is entitled “The Voting Rights Act in North Carolina: Turnout, Registration, Access, and Enforcement,” and her work has been published in the Oxford Handbook of American Public Opinion and the Media and the California Journal of Politics and Policy. Dr. Willcoxon received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. She is married with two children.

  • Areas of Expertise

    • Voting rights
    • Public opinion/survey research
    • Race, ethnicity, and immigration
    • Political participation and electoral institutions
    • Equity
  • Current Positions

    • Nonresident Fellow, Governance Studies; The Brookings Institution
    • Senior Research Consultant and Account Lead, Gallup
  • Past Positions

    • Research Scientist; Senior Research Consultant - Associated Press, NORC Center for Public Affairs Research
    • Postdoctoral Scholar, Center on Democracy and Organizing; University of California, Berkeley
    • Public Opinion Researcher; Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates
    • Survey Project Manager; Public Policy Institute of California
    • Researcher, Center for Latino Policy Research; University of California, Berkeley
  • Education

    • Ph.D. in Political Science; University of California, Berkeley
    • B.A. in Political Science; University of California, San Diego
    • B.A. in History; University of California, San Diego