Ambassador

Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University and a Faculty Fellow at Northwestern’s Institute for Policy Research.  Dr. DeFrancesco Soto received her Ph.D. from Duke University in 2007.

Dr. DeFrancesco Soto’s research focuses on race and ethnic politics, immigration, and campaigns and elections. Her academic research has been widely published in scholarly journals and edited volumes. Her current work examines how Latino political candidates are evaluated by both Latino and non-Latino populations.  Her research and teaching portfolio, links race and ethnicity with political psychology to understand how ‘cognition’ and ‘affect’ shape how individuals process information in dynamic political environments.

Dr. DeFrancesco Soto also brings public opinion expertise to understand presidential elections.  Presently Dr. DeFrancesco Soto is examining how the 2008 presidential campaign ads shaped public opinion and vote choice.  In this analysis, she applies an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) approach to understand how ethnically targeted ads influence political choice.  In 2008, Dr. DeFrancesco Soto was Northwestern’s University principal investigator for the Big Ten Battleground Poll, a public opinion survey of voters for the 2008 Presidential Election.

In the media sphere, Dr. DeFrancesco Soto regularly contributes to national media outlets.  In 2008, she served as a primary expert and analyst for CNN en Espanol’s 2008 Presidential Election coverage.  She has also been featured on the Today Show and NPR.