Natalie Hernandez
Bio
Natalie Hernandez is an Agora Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University in May 2026, where she graduated with departmental distinction. Her research examines questions around political representation, public opinion, and persuasion, with a current focus on abortion policy in the post-Roe v. Wade era. Her current research agenda addresses three interrelated questions: First, to what extent does state-level policy align with state-level public preferences, and when and why does it diverge? Second, do Americans have meaningful preferences—an essential condition for democratic representation? And third, can life events or external forces change those preferences? To study these questions, she uses large-scale surveys, panel data, and survey and field experiments. Her research has been conditionally accepted or published in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Public Opinion Quarterly, Political Behavior, and American Politics Research. Before graduate school, Natalie worked at the Boston Consulting Group and received her B.A. in Political Science and Spanish from the University of Pennsylvania.
Contact
Interests:
- American Politics
Articles:
- 2015-05 - Barriers and facilitators to delivering effective mental health practice strategies for youth and families served by the child welfare system (with Antonio Garcia et al.), Child and Youth Services Review