Thomas Bradley Kent

I am a PhD candidate in the Travers Department of Political Science at the University of California Berkeley.  My research focuses on partisan polarization of confidence in societal institutions.  My dissertation seeks to explain this polarization; I use public opinion, text classification and sentiment analysis to establish the roles of institutional ideology and elite signaling come together to cause it.

While at Berkeley, I have been the lead instructor Introduction to American Politics, Political Psychology, and Parties and Polarization in the United States. I have been a Graduate Student Instructor for Introduction to American Politics, Introduction to Comparative Politics, Crime and Politics, Political Psychology, and Public Policy.

My undergraduate degree is from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. 

Working papers

"Increasing Polarization since 1970 in Trust for American Non-Political Institutions."  With Henry Brady.   Presented at the American Political Science Association annual meeting, 2020.

"Institutions and Constituents: Ideological Trends Over Time."  Presented at the Midwest Political Science Association annual meeting, 2022.