ICREA Academia
Mariano Torcal

Mariano Torcal

ICREA Acadèmia 2014 & 2019

Universitat Pompeu Fabra · Social & Behavioural Sciences

Mariano Torcal

Full Professor in Political Science and ICREA Research Fellow (2014-2019, and 2020-2025) at the Department of Political and Social Science at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona and Director of the Research and Expertise Centre for Survey Methodology (RECSM). President of WAPOR Latinoamérica Association (2018-2020). Senior Adjunct Faculty at the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver since 2006.  CES Jean Monnet Visiting Scholar, University of North Carolina, USA, in 2017. He has published several articles on topics such as political disaffection, political trust and satisfaction with democracy, electoral behavior, political participation and party system institutionalization in major international journals. More recently, I got interested in the topic of effective polarization and support for right-wing parties. Member of The Editorial Boards of many International Journals. Current editor of Revista Latinoamericana de Opinión Pública. 


Research interests

Certainly, ideological and issue position differences between parties and their followers lie at the very core of democratic political life, but scholars in the United States (have identified another important facet of this topic - citizens’ affective polarisation that arises between partisan and other identity groups and along policy lines. This process goes beyond the traditional ideological/issue conflicts, emerging along lines drawn by partisan loyalties as well as existing or new emerging identities which increasingly divide the world into in-groups and out-groups. My research has centred on the study of affective polarisation, with special attention to role played by the increasing partisan media and social media. My interests also include the interplay of this type of polarisation with the decline in political trust in important institutions of representation and interest aggregation, as well as social trust more generally.


Keywords

Public Opinion, Eleccions, Party Systems, Survey Methodology, Political Behavior