About

Natalie Masuoka is an Associate Professor in the Asian American Studies Department and Political Science at UCLA. Her research interests include racial and ethnic politics, immigration, political behavior, and public opinion. She authored the book 'The Politics of Belonging: Race, Public Opinion and Immigration,' which examines how different racial groups view immigration and immigrants, and this work was awarded the 2014 Ralph Bunche Award by the American Political Science Association. Her second book, 'Multiracial Identity and Racial Politics in the United States,' explores the rise of multiracial Americans and its impact on politics, and was recognized as the best book in political behavior by the Race, Ethnicity and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association. Professor Masuoka earned her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of California, Irvine, and her B.A. from CSU Long Beach. Prior to her position at UCLA, she taught at Tufts University and Duke University.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Law
• Gender studies
• Psychology
• Political economy
• Criminology
• Public administration
• Law and economics
• Demographic economics
• Public relations
• Social psychology
• Economics

Selected publications

• Commemorating the 30 ^th Anniversary of the APSA Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section and the 10 ^th Anniversary of the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics

  The Journal of Race Ethnicity and Politics · 2026-03-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In 2025, the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics (REP) section celebrates its 30th anniversary as a formal section of the American Political Science Association.This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the section's journal, Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics (JREP).Looking at these 30 th -and 10 th -year markers provides an opening for celebration, but it also calls for an effort to document how we got to this point of institutional longevity.While there have been major successes, Race, Ethnicity, and Politics as a field of inquiry has not always been welcome in political science (along with many other longstanding disciplines), and so documenting our struggles and challenges is just as important as celebrating our accomplishments.In this special issue article, we feature a collection of essays that feature testimonies of scholars who have been leaders of the REP section and of JREP.To begin, we went through the roster of REP officeholders and editors of JREP and asked these leaders if they were willing to contribute short essays in which they reflect upon both changes of REP as an academic field and how the REP section and/ or JREP has played a role in their career.We selected REP officeholders to represent different generations of scholars who were involved with the section during each decade since the founding in 1995.For JREP, we invited past editors along with international contributors who could provide us with a comparative and global outlook on the state of REP research.By showcasing this diversity of perspectives, we aim to not only help preserve the history of the REP section and journal but also to represent a range of perspectives that can be shared with our youngest and future generations on how REP has changed and grown over time.Reading through these essays, it is plainly clear how REP has survived through many cycles of politics because scholars have continued to fight for recognition and respect both in the discipline and in society at large.REP has expanded over time because of our mindfulness towards the pipeline and mentoring, which carves out new opportunities for younger generations.These essays are particularly timely considering the political context in which we are publishing this collection-a period when the federal government has sought to roll back on civil rights and

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Race in a Pandemic: Asian American Perceptions of Discrimination and Political Preferences in the 2020 Election

  Public Opinion Quarterly · 2025-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Are individual perceptions about racial discrimination relatively stable or are they influenced by external cues? Does belief stability on racial discrimination items offer some explanation for the inconsistent findings on the relationship between perceptions about discrimination and political behavior for racial minorities identified in the past literature? This study highlights the case of Asian Americans and the rise of anti-Asian hate during the COVID pandemic as an opportunity to understand how Asian Americans report discrimination against their group in response to surrounding events. Using an original three-wave study of Asian American respondents collected over 2020, we find that perceptions of discrimination were relatively stable over 2020. At the same time, we find that a respondent's preexisting attitudes about racial discrimination held prior to the pandemic informed their assessment of discrimination during the pandemic. We also find that a respondent's preexisting discrimination beliefs moderate the relationship between their assessment about discrimination during the pandemic and 2020 presidential candidate choice. This study offers new interventions into existing assumptions about the link between discrimination and political behavior.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sharing Is Caring

  2024-03-12 · 1 citations

  book-chapterSenior author

  COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on communities of color and women who, because of gendered socialization, serve as caregivers. In this chapter, we seek to examine how women of color California state legislators represented constituents who faced the brunt of the economic, educational, social, and health-related challenges of the pandemic. Using an original data set of Facebook posts from state legislators, we conduct a qualitative text analysis of posts and compare how minority women legislators choose to frame governmental response to COVID and the types of concerns they most emphasize for their constituents. Our research examines how women of color represent disadvantaged communities.

  PublisherDOI

• Leadership in a Pandemic: State Legislator Constituent Outreach in Response to COVID-19

  Political Research Quarterly · 2024-12-03 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  This study builds on the existing literature by considering the extent to which minority legislators offer different forms of constituency outreach during times of emergency. This case study of state legislator constituent outreach during the COVID-19 pandemic uses an analysis of Facebook posts in 2020 to track how state legislators provided outreach and communicated resources to their constituents during a public health crisis. We ask, in times of emergency, do women and minority legislators offer unique attention toward the needs of those constituencies that they descriptively represent, or do urgent issues push these legislators to focus more broadly on general concerns expressed by their entire district? We argue that legislators’ social media activity during the COVID-19 pandemic offers an important measure of their practice of constituency outreach due to the nation’s reliance on virtual communication during this period. This study finds there to be important variation by partisanship, but within party, we find important differences depending on both the race and gender of the legislator. Democratic women of all races were those legislators most actively providing information and outreach related to COVID-19 to their constituents in 2020.

  PublisherDOI

• How Crises Shape Interest in Elected Officials of Color: Social Media Activity, Race and Responsiveness to Members of Congress on Twitter

  Political Communication · 2024-07-23 · 3 citations

  article

  This study aims to understand public reactions to statements about racial discrimination made by elected officials of color on Twitter. We argue that statements about race made by elected officials of color will be overlooked in most political contexts. However, during events when race is made a salient issue, the public will look to elected officials of the afflicted group for guidance and, through this, the public will be more likely to interact with these leaders on Twitter. In this way, periods of crises create a window of opportunity when statements against racism made by elected officials of color receive greater public attention. To assess this hypothesis, we use the case study of Asian American members of Congress and their discussion of anti-Asian racism on Twitter. We examine the pattern of Twitter interactions to their posts in 2021. We find that Asian American members of Congress receive more social media attention (likes and retweets) relative to other members of Congress when condemning anti-Asian violence, but only in the immediate wake of the March 2021 mass shooting of Asian Americans in Atlanta, Georgia. This study offers important new insight into when elected officials of color can draw public attention to the communities that they descriptively represent.

  PublisherDOI

• Women Voters

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2024-09-27 · 7 citations

  bookSenior author

  Women Voters documents and explains three important phenomena implicating gender, race, and immigration. The Element contributes to a better understanding of partisan candidate choice in US presidential elections. First, women are diverse and politically heterogenous, where white women are more likely to vote Republican and women of color are majority Democratic voters. Second, due to the unequal privileges and constraints associated with race, white women have greater agency to sort by partisan preference, whereas women of color have more limited choice in their partisan support. Finally, the authors emphasize compositional change in the electorate as an important explanation of electoral outcomes.

  PublisherDOI

• Does Color Matter: Review Article of <i>Skin Color, Power, and Politics in America</i>

  Political Science Quarterly · 2023-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract This is a review article of Skin Color, Power, and Politics in America by Mara Cecilia Ostfeld and Nicole Yadon, published by Russell Sage Foundation in 2022. The core premise of the book argues that skin color is another important dimension of the construction of race in America and that it can also provide insight into how individuals experience the world. This article provides an overview of the book and offers reflections on its interventions into the fields of race, ethnicity and politics, public opinion, and political psychology.

  PublisherDOI

• A Growing Political Force

  2023-01-01

  otherSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The Asian American Vote in 2020: Indicators of Turnout and Vote Choice

  Political Behavior · 2022 · 38 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Asian American Connective Action in the Age of Social Media: Civic Engagement, Contested Issues, and Emerging Identities. By James S. Lai. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2022. 211p. $104.50 cloth, $29.95 paper.

  Perspectives on Politics · 2022-12-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Asian American Connective Action in the Age of Social Media: Civic Engagement, Contested Issues, and Emerging Identities. By James S. Lai. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2022. 211p. 29.95 paper. - Volume 20 Issue 4

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Jane Junn

  15 shared

• Bernard Grofman

  University of California, Irvine

  8 shared

• Scott L. Feld

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  6 shared

• Bernie Grofman

  University of California, Irvine

  5 shared

• Nathan Chan

  Loyola Marymount University

  3 shared

• And Scott Feld

  3 shared

• Gabriel R. Sánchez

  Firalis (France)

  3 shared

• James H. Fowler

  University of California, San Diego

  2 shared

Awards & honors

• 2014 Ralph Bunche Award by the American Political Science As…
• Best book in political behavior by the Race, Ethnicity and P…