About

Oscar Pocasangre is Senior Data Analyst in the Political Reform program at New America, where he focuses on electoral systems and democratic politics. He has written extensively on proportional representation systems, fusion voting, the age divide in American politics, and direct democracy. He is also affiliated with The Guinier Project at Harvard Law School, doing research on minority representation under alternative electoral systems and the policy and governance consequences of proportional representation systems.

Pocasangre holds a PhD in political science from Columbia University, where he focused on comparative politics and quantitative methods. He previously worked for the MIT Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in Santiago, Chile as a Policy and Training Analyst. He earned an MPA from Columbia and a BA from Yale.

Peer-reviewed publications

• Mixed-Member Proportional Representation and the U.S. House of Representatives
  With Alex Keena and Natasha Romero-Moskalis. Political Research Quarterly, 2026.
• Vaccine Diplomacy: How COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution in Latin America Increases Trust in Foreign Governments
  With Elena Barham, Sarah Daly, Julián Gerez, and John Marshall. World Politics, 2023. Coverage: Foreign Policy
• Messaging Interventions that Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Willingness in Latin America
  With Pablo Argote, Elena Barham, Sarah Daly, Julián Gerez, and John Marshall. PLOS One, 2021.Coverage: Communication Initiative
• The Shot, the Message, and the Messenger: COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance in Latin America
  With Pablo Argote, Elena Barham, Sarah Daly, Julián Gerez, and John Marshall. npj Vaccines, 2021.
• Dynamic Transparency: An Audit of Mexico’s Freedom of Information Act
  With Paul Lagunes. Public Administration, 2019.

Other publications

• The Age Divide: How America's Electoral System Reinforces the Gerontocracy
  With Dustin Wahl. Protect Democracy and New America white paper.
• Can Proportional Representation Create Better Governance?
  With John Carey. Protect Democracy and New America white paper.
• Argentina’s Elections Are Becoming Dangerously American
  With Grant Tudor. Foreign Policy.
• Democracy Hypocrisy: Examining America’s Fragile Democratic Convictions
  With Joe Goldman and Lee Drutman. Democracy Fund and New America report.
• Understanding the Partisan Divide: How Demographics and Policy Views Shape Party Coalitions
  With Lee Drutman. New America report.
• Undecided Voters: Who They Are, What They Want, and How They Decide Our Politics
  With Lee Drutman. New America report.
• What We Learned About Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and How to Overcome It
  Columbia News.
• Why El Salvador’s Multi-Party System Is On the Brink of Collapse
  El Faro.
• Conditional Cash Transfers: International Experience and Policy Implications
  With Francisca de Iruarrizaga and Francisco Gallego. Book chapter in Ingreso Ético Familiar: Innovando en la Lucha Contra la Pobreza.