Overview
Peter K. Enns is a Professor in the Department of Government and the Brooks School of Public Policy. He is also co-founder and chief data scientist at Verasight. His research and teaching focus on public opinion and political representation, mass incarceration and the legal system, and data science. He was Executive Director of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research from 2015-2022 and Robert S. Harrison Director of the Cornell Center for Social Sciences from 2021-2024.
Enns has published three books—Hijacking the Agenda: Economic Power and Political Influence, Incarceration Nation: How the United States Became the Most Punitive Democracy in the World, and Who Gets Represented?—and dozens of academic articles and op-eds. His research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, FWD.us, Koch Foundation, National Science Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Russell Sage Foundation. In 2017, he received the Emerging Scholar Award from the Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior section of the American Political Science Association, presented to the top scholar in the field within ten years of her or his doctorate.
Research Focus
Research and data can be found here.
In the news
- Election forecasting topic of eCornell keynote address
- Partisan news shows broadcast emotions alongside information, says Klarman Fellow
- Clark Hall space becomes hub for social sciences
- A&S welcomes 10 new Klarman Fellows to expanded program
- Experts assess innovative Cornell election study
- Results of innovative Cornell-led public opinion survey to be released Friday
- Cornell-led election survey seeks to improve science of polls
- Experts will offer day-after election analysis
- Will Biden and Trump face off again in 2024?
- Misperceptions can threaten scientific advancement
- Why aren’t Americans rallying around Biden during a war?
- Money talks: Wealthy ‘hijack’ agenda to gain policy influence
- Peter Enns Named Director of Cornell Center for Social Sciences
- Alumnus, professor team creates data insight company
- Grants advance social sciences research, collaboration
- Americans aren’t learning about anti-Asian bias. We have the data.
- Center for Social Sciences announces 2021-22 faculty fellows
- Roper Center hosts forum on public opinion polling
- We predicted the states Biden would win 100 days before the election
- Student poll found voters anxious about election
- SCOTUS nomination battle could sway independent, religious voters
- Will 'hidden' Trump supporters give America an election day surprise?
- Grants fund community-engaged learning curricula
- Polls, voters and election 2020: A&S webinar on Oct. 19
- Policing, incarceration examined in racism webinar debut
- A&S launches ‘Racism in America’ webinar series Sept. 16
- Roper Center collection remembers, amplifies Black voices
- A&S faculty paving way for policy school, superdepartments
- Social sciences center awards COVID-19 grants
- Democrats named Biden, Sanders and Warren as their top picks 18 months ago. What did the primaries change?
- Center for Social Sciences names 2020-21 faculty fellows
- Migrations initiative announces cross-campus awards
- Roper Center gives voice to American public opinion
- Experts to discuss 2020 polling on ‘Pundits on the Line’
- Grants create engagement opportunities for students
- Trump thinks racist rhetoric will help him in 2020. The data suggest otherwise.
- Study: Nearly half of Americans have had a family member jailed, imprisoned
- Interpreting public opinion
- Almost half of U.S. adults have seen a family member jailed, study shows
- Why Trump’s immigration rhetoric may not help Republicans at the polls
- Big data on political and economic will
- Roper Center to create world’s most comprehensive health opinion database
- Grants create community-engaged opportunities for students
- Trump and the deep divide on environmental quality
- Roper Center expands access to America’s Voice Project
- How attitudes on race, immigration, gender will affect the 2018 midterm elections
- Trump's political base is weaker than it seems, new study finds
- Inaugural Presidential Postdoctoral Fellows selected
- Republicans doubt 'global warming' more than 'climate change'
- Cornell scholars examine the structures of inequality