Rate My Professor Mariano Torcal

Mariano Torcal is Full Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, since 2006. He earned PhDs in Political Science from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 1995—recipient of the National Center for Sociological Research annual prize for Best Quantitative Dissertation in Social Sciences—and from Ohio State University in 2001. He also holds an MA in Political Science from Ohio State University (1992), BAs in Sociology (1988) and Political Science (1986) from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and an MA in International Relations from Instituto Universitario José Ortega y Gasset (1989). His career includes Associate Professor (1997-2000) and Assistant Professor (1993-1996) at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Assistant Professor at Fundación Juan March (1996-1997), and numerous visiting roles such as at University of Michigan (1996), Kellogg Institute at University of Notre Dame (post-doctoral fellowship, 1997), University of Mannheim (2016), LUISS University (2016), and Adjunct Visiting Professor at University of Denver's Josep Korbel School (2006-present, until 2023). At UPF, he chaired the department and coordinated the PhD program (2004-2007), was Spanish National Coordinator of the European Social Survey (2001-2012), currently directs the Research and Expertise Centre for Survey Methodology (RECSM), served as President of WAPOR Latin America (2019-2021), and leads the Comparative National Election Project (CNEP) as Principal Investigator.

Torcal's research interests encompass political behavior, political culture and attitudes, social and political participation in new democracies, party system institutionalization, vote intermediation mechanisms, and electoral accountability, with recent work on affective polarization, political trust, and satisfaction with democracy. He has authored and co-authored key books including The Europeanization of National Polities? Citizenship and Support in a Post-Enlargement Union (Oxford University Press, 2012), Political Disaffection in Contemporary Democracies: Social Capital, Institutions, and Politics (Routledge, 2006), Affective Polarisation in Spain: Electoral, Regional and Media Conflictuality (Taylor & Francis, 2023), De Votantes a Hooligans: Polarización política en España (Catarata, 2023), and co-edited Handbook of Affective Polarization (Edward Elgar, open access). Publications appear in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, British Journal of Political Science, West European Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Party Politics. Awards include ICREA Academia Intense Research Award (2015-present), Spanish Political Science Association Best Book Prize (2006) for Ciudadanos, asociaciones y participación política en España, Best Article Prize (2003), APSA Gregory M. Luebbert Prize runner-up (1997), and Edgardo Catterberg Award (2012). He is co-editor of the Latin American Journal of Public Opinion.