Matt Barreto is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, holding a joint appointment in the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o Studies since joining the institution in 2015. Prior to UCLA, he served as Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington from 2014 to 2015, Associate Professor from 2009 to 2014, and Assistant Professor from 2005 to 2009, while also directing the Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity and Race and the Center for Democracy and Voting Rights at the UW School of Law. Barreto earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine in 2005, with subfields in American Politics, Race, Ethnicity and Politics, and Methodology; his dissertation, Ethnic Cues: The Role of Shared Ethnicity in Latino Political Participation, was supported by Ford Foundation and University of California President’s Dissertation Fellowships. He also holds a Master of Science in Social Science from UCI in 2003 and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Eastern New Mexico University in 1998, graduating summa cum laude with a 3.9 GPA.

Barreto's research examines the political participation of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, with specializations in Latino politics, the Voting Rights Act, elections, public opinion, and voting behavior among immigrants and minorities. As Faculty Director of the UCLA Voting Rights Project, he leads data analysis on voting patterns, redistricting, and district performance. Previously Founding Faculty Director of the UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute from 2017 to 2024, he has co-authored key books including Latino America: How America’s Most Dynamic Population is Poised to Transform the Politics of the Nation (PublicAffairs, 2014, with Gary Segura), Change They Can’t Believe In: The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America (Princeton University Press, 2013, with Christopher Parker, recipient of the 2014 APSA Best Book Award in Race, Ethnicity, and Politics), and Ethnic Cues: The Role of Shared Ethnicity in Latino Political Participation (University of Michigan Press, 2010). Author of nearly 50 peer-reviewed articles with over 6,300 citations, Barreto has provided expert testimony in more than four dozen federal and state voting rights cases. He co-founded Latino Decisions in 2007 and BSP Research in 2021, firms specializing in Latino and communities of color polling, and has received grants from the National Science Foundation, Ford Foundation, and others.

Professional Email: barretom@ucla.edu