Nicole Willcoxon, Ph.D.

About Nicole

Nicole Willcoxon is a research director and account leader in Gallup's public sector division, where she leads quantitative and qualitative research projects for a wide variety of clients in education, health, social trends and wellbeing. Her work on public sector projects has contributed to thought leadership for her clients and for the research community. She is also a regular contributor to Gallup News and is a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Nicole has spent over 15 years directing public opinion research projects. Prior to Gallup, she was a Senior Research Scientist at the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, a postdoctoral scholar at UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies and a survey researcher at the Public Policy Institute of California, among others.

Nicole has authored or coauthored more than 50 reports, journal articles, news articles and book chapters related to public opinion on topics spanning from elections and civil rights, voting behavior, news consumption, climate change, health, wellbeing, education and race and ethnic diversity in survey research. She has been published in The Washington Post, The Oxford Handbook of American Public Opinion and the Media and the California Journal of Politics and Policy.

Nicole received her bachelor's degree in political science and history from the University of California-San Diego. She received both her master's degree and a doctorate in political science from the University of California-Berkeley.