Daniel Naftel is a PhD student specializing in American Politics and Political Methodology. He studies voting, the criminal justice system, representation, and local politics, with a particular focus on how public policy and institutions drive inequality in political voice and the provision of public services. His dissertation, Identifying the Effects of Policing on Voter Behavior, leverages anti-gang crackdowns in Los Angeles and a series of randomized policing experiments to measure the impact of aggressive police tactics on political attitudes and voting behavior. He finds that harsh anti-crime interventions can lead to substantial electoral backlash in poor, racially segregated neighborhoods where political engagement is typically low.  

In other work, he uses large text corpora to explore how the media covers topics related to gender and race. This includes a project examining how descriptive representation and conversational norms interact to drive gender inequality among political pundits on cable news.

Before joining Ohio State, Daniel received a B.A. (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) in International Affairs from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and worked in environmental organizations. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. In his spare time, Daniel is an avid trail runner and skier.