Hayley M. Cohen

Political Science PhD Candidate
Columbia University

I am a fifth year PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. I study American politics and political behavior, with a focus on experimental methodology.

My dissertation, which is supported by the Rapoport Family Foundation and the Columbia Experimental Lab for Social Sciences, focuses on voter and elite behavior in primary elections, specifically how campaigns shape the primary electorate, the sophistication and partisanship of primary voters, and how those characteristics shape primary election outcomes. I study these relationships across levels of office, including in congressional, state legislative and gubernatorial races. My other work focuses on voter behavior writ large, and local politics with an emphasis on zoning policy. Throughout my research, I utilize survey experiments, field experiments, qualitative interviews and causal inference methods.

Before graduate school, I received a BA in Political Science at Tufts University, where I graduated magna cum laude, and worked in political polling.