(Santa Barbara, Calif.) – A team of political scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the University of New Mexico, the University of Massachusetts, and the University of Notre Dame has completed a groundbreaking survey that explores how race and gender is changing the political landscape of the United States. The scholars presented their findings today at a press conference at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.The Gender and Multicultural Leadership Project is, to date, the most comprehensive multiracial, multi-office national survey of Black, Latino, Asian, and Native American elected officials holding position at state and local levels.Principal investigators include Pei-te Lien, a professor of political science at UC Santa Barbara; Christine Marie Sierra, a professor of political science at the University of New Mexico; Carol Hardy-Fanta, director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston; and Dianne M. Pinderhughes, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. They constructed a national database of over 10,000 public officials in federal and selected state and local office. Survey respondents were drawn from this database and included 1,354 officials, slightly more than half of whom are African American, over one-third are Latino/a, seven percent are Asian American, and two percent are Native American. Among other topics, respondents discussed their positions on issues such as the war in Iraq, the No Child Left Behind education policy, immigration, and the Voting Rights Act.

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