About

David C. Wilson is the dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy and a Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. His research examines how individuals formulate their political preferences about race and justice, and how social cognition shapes broader survey response behaviors. His work is published widely in areas including the application of double standards in evaluating racial groups and related policy issues, attitudes toward voter identification laws and electoral malfeasance, blame attributions toward elected leaders and political groups, and the impact of diversity culture and climate on organizational employee engagement. He is also the co-author of Racial Resentment in the Political Mind (University of Chicago Press, 2022). Wilson's academic specializations include survey research methods and experiments, political psychology, and American politics, with an emphasis on the measurement and analysis of intergroup attitudes and political behavior. He holds memberships in several professional organizations and has served on various committees, including the executive council for the American Association of Public Opinion Researchers and the Editorial Board of Public Opinion Quarterly. Prior to his current role, he was the senior associate dean for the social sciences at the University of Delaware and held senior positions with Gallup Polling Organization. Wilson earned a BA in government from Western Kentucky University, and an MPA, MA, and PhD in political science from Michigan State University. He is also a military veteran with 19 years of service in the US Army Reserves, including combat tours for Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Computer Security
• Computer Science
• Data science
• Marketing
• Business
• Internet privacy
• Psychology
• Public relations

Selected publications

• The January 6th Insurrection and the Triggering of African Americans’ Racial Resentment

  The Journal of Race Ethnicity and Politics · 2025-02-21 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract The January 6 th insurrection and its aftermath of obfuscation and denial were ostensibly racialized events. Under the guise of election fraud, white supremacists, white nationalists, and paramilitary groups attempted to overthrow established democratic procedures to retain a president who stoked racial antagonisms and racial divisions. African Americans, like many American citizens, watched in fear, anxiety, and foreboding as the groups most committed to their repression violently attacked and ransacked the Capitol. We examine the extent to which the January 6 th insurrection and its aftermath of denial and obfuscation influence African Americans’ racial resentment. Our results show how the racialized January 6 th events were connected to heightened African American racial resentment. The most compelling result confirms that African Americans’ racial resentment stems from beliefs about justice and fairness.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Need for a Recurring Large-Scale Benchmarking Survey to Continually Evaluate Sampling Methods and Administration Modes: Lessons from the 2022 Collaborative Midterm Survey

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2024-07-08

  preprintOpen access

  As survey methods adapt to technological and societal changes, a growing body of research seeks to understand the tradeoffs associated with various sampling methods and administration modes. We show how the NSF-funded 2022 Collaborative Midterm Survey (CMS) can be used as a dynamic and transparent framework for evaluating which sampling approaches - or combination of approaches - are best suited for various research goals. The CMS is ideally suited for this purpose because it includes almost 20,000 respondents interviewed using two administration modes (phone and online) and data drawn from random digit dialing, random address-based sampling, a probability-based panel, two nonprobability panels, and two nonprobability marketplaces. The analysis considers three types of population benchmarks (election data, administrative records, and large government surveys) and focuses on the national-level estimates as well as oversamples in three states (California, Florida, and Wisconsin). In addition to documenting how each of the survey strategies performed, we develop a strategy to assess how different combinations of approaches compare to different population benchmarks in order to guide researchers combining sampling methods and sources. We conclude by providing specific recommendations to public opinion and election survey researchers and demonstrating how our approach could be applied to a large government survey conducted at regular intervals to provide ongoing guidance to researchers, government, businesses, and nonprofits regarding the most appropriate survey sampling and administration methods.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Protecting the integrity of survey research

  PNAS Nexus · 2023 · 25 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Political Science
  • Computer Security

  Although polling is not irredeemably broken, changes in technology and society create challenges that, if not addressed well, can threaten the quality of election polls and other important surveys on topics such as the economy. This essay describes some of these challenges and recommends remediations to protect the integrity of all kinds of survey research, including election polls. These 12 recommendations specify ways that survey researchers, and those who use polls and other public-oriented surveys, can increase the accuracy and trustworthiness of their data and analyses. Many of these recommendations align practice with the scientific norms of transparency, clarity, and self-correction. The transparency recommendations focus on improving disclosure of factors that affect the nature and quality of survey data. The clarity recommendations call for more precise use of terms such as "representative sample" and clear description of survey attributes that can affect accuracy. The recommendation about correcting the record urges the creation of a publicly available, professionally curated archive of identified technical problems and their remedies. The paper also calls for development of better benchmarks and for additional research on the effects of panel conditioning. Finally, the authors suggest ways to help people who want to use or learn from survey research understand the strengths and limitations of surveys and distinguish legitimate and problematic uses of these methods.

  PublisherDOI

• The Prospect of Antiracism

  Public Opinion Quarterly · 2022-04-14 · 29 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Racial reckoning in response to racial injustice has compelled individuals, organizations, and institutions to acknowledge and adopt policies that actively challenge racial injustice. A central tenet of this era of reckoning is that it is no longer acceptable to ignore racist behaviors and expressions. To the extent that active opposition to racial prejudice is an effective strategy for individuals to pursue, we examine individual inclinations to act on matters of racial prejudice. We argue that in spite of best intentions, the motivation to act against racism, what we call “antiracism action orientation,” can be disrupted by system-justifying beliefs that raise questions about deservingness, legitimize the status quo, and therefore defend inaction. Survey data from the 2020 Congressional Election Study show that antiracism action orientation is strongest among African Americans, and those with more positive affect toward racial-ethnic minorities, and supporters of change. Among Whites, racial resentment dominates the motivations for antiracism to the point that typical political allies like Democrats, liberals, and those who acknowledge White privilege reduce their antiracism action orientation to lower levels than Republicans, conservatives, and deniers of White privilege. We conclude that most Americans, but especially Whites, have a high bar for change, making racism an ongoing American dilemma because of both racial attitudes and the costs of change.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Media Use, Interpersonal Communication, and Attitudes Toward Artificial Intelligence

  Science Communication · 2022-10-01 · 47 citations

  articleOpen access

  This study examines how members of the public frame artificial intelligence (AI) along with how news use predicts “frames in mind” for AI. The study also tests whether news use, science fiction viewing, and discussing technology influence attitudes toward AI independently and in conjunction with one another. The analyses use data from a nationally representative online panel survey. Respondents invoked social progress and Pandora’s box frames for AI, and technology news use predicted mentioning each frame. Use of technology news also predicted change in support for AI, while science fiction viewing and discussing technology were conditionally related to such change.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Race, Justice, and Public Opinion

  Public Opinion Quarterly · 2022-04-21 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Chapter 6. Racial Cognitive Consistency

  2022-01-01

  book-chapterSenior author

  Abstract This chapter raises the question of motivated reasoning and cognitive consistency in structuring political attitudes. Recent research on spill-over effects has focused attention on the association between racial resentment toward African Americans and ostensibly non-racial attitudes. Individuals appear motivated, for whatever reasons, to apply racial evaluations of President Obama to non-racial policies, like the performance of the national economy, and more recently, to beliefs about climate change. Presumably, individuals who express greater resentment toward African Americans are more likely to reject the occurrence of climate change because it is associated with President Obama. The discourse among political elites—as reflected in the media—frames or structures the expressions of racial resentment toward African Americans to President Obama's agenda, at least with regard to his efforts on climate change. Several scholars have suggested that motivated reasoning or a racial cognitive consistency might underlie the willingness to perceive the economy differently under President Obama's leadership. That is, individuals may align their evaluations of President Obama's agenda and performance not with their dislike of him but rather with their racial resentment toward African Americans.

  PublisherDOI

• Eyes on the Streets: Media Use and Public Opinion About Facial Recognition Technology

  Bulletin of Science Technology & Society · 2022-12-01 · 9 citations

  articleSenior author

  This study examines how different forms of media use predict attitudes toward the development of facial recognition technology (FRT) and applications of it by law enforcement to identify criminal suspects, identify potential terrorists, and monitor public protests. The theoretical framework builds on theories of cultivation and genre-specific viewing to develop hypotheses and research questions. The analyses draw on original data from two nationally representative surveys of the U.S. public conducted in 2020, amid a series of controversies and protests about policing and racial justice. The results demonstrate that overall television viewing and crime media viewing predicted support for multiple uses of FRT, while Fox News viewing predicted support for using FRT to monitor protests. The findings advance our understanding of public opinion toward the technology and its implications for policing, protests, and social justice.

  PublisherDOI

• The Bites Eclectic: Critique-Based Conversational Recommendation for Diversity-Focused Meal Planning

  Lecture notes in computer science · 2021-01-01 · 4 citations

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Explaining Public Attitudes toward Facial Recognition Technology

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2021-01-01 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Roger C. Boysen

  13 shared

• J. E. Baldwin

  Team University

  12 shared

• J. S. Young

  University of Cambridge

  12 shared

• P. J. Warner

  11 shared

• Christopher A. Haniff

  University of Cambridge

  9 shared

• Alma L. Burlingame

  University of California, San Francisco

  8 shared

• A. L. Burlingame

  University of California, San Francisco

  8 shared

• David F. Buscher

  7 shared

Awards & honors

• Life memberships in the American Political Science Associati…
• Life memberships in the International Society for Political…
• Life memberships in the Midwest Political Science Associatio…
• Life memberships in Pi Alpha Alpha National Honor Society fo…
• Life memberships in the National Conference of Black Politic…