I am an Assistant Professor and Benjamin Lippincott Chair in Political Economy in the Department of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

​I'm interested in international political economy and public opinion. My book project, The Cost of Doing Politics, and related working papers, investigate the ways in which public opinion shapes how companies try to influence politics. In a series of articles, I also research how (and why) people feel like they do about offshoring, trade, and foreign investment. 

My substantive interests have also driven me to methodological work. While many quantitative methodologists focus on what to do once you have data, I have found, like many applied researchers, that getting the data is its own problem. Accordingly, I research data collection and measurement strategies. My aim is to make it possible to answer more questions, rather than our knowledge being limited by our data, like the proverbial man looking for his keys under the streetlight because that's where the light is best.

Driven by similar concerns about science, I also research political science as a discipline. I'm especially interested in where research ideas come from and how knowledge is disseminated and built upon, and how this is shaped by the the researcher's own characteristics. 

I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at Emory University in 2016 and my B.S. from the University of Michigan in 2010.

Photo: Adam Iverson Photography (http://www.adamiversonphotography.com/)

Contact
email: jlsumner[at]umn[dot]edu
office: 1472 Social Sciences Building
267 19th Ave. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455

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