Dr. Juan S. Gómez Cruces

Areas of Research

  • Comparative Political Behavior

  • Digital Technology

  • Populist Rhetoric & Polarization

  • Latin America

Methods

  • Quantitative Methods

  • Causal Inference

  • Computational Social Science Methods including: 
    ○ Text-analysis;

    ○ Large Language Models; 

    ○ Natural Language Processing (NLP).  

Biography 

Dr. Juan S. Gómez Cruces earned his Ph.D. in Political Science at Georgia State University. His dissertation entitled Digital Divides and Dialogues: A Multidimensional Analysis of Populist Rhetoric, Social Media Interaction, and Societal Polarization in Latin America addresses how populists in power use social media and the implications of their communicational strategies.  

Dr. Gómez Cruces’ research has been published in the Journal of Computational Social Science and as a chapter contribution in the forthcoming volume The Ideational Approach to Populism, Volume II: Consequences and Mitigation. In the past, he collaborated as Graduate Research Fellow for the Digital Threats to Democracy and Elections initiative at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia.  

Publications 

  • Gómez-Cruces, J. S. (2024) Forecasting executive approval with social media data: opportunities, challenges and limitations, Journal of Computational Social Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42001-024-00299-y

    McCoy, J., Gómez-Cruces, J. S., Tuncel, O. & Littvay, L. (2023) Reducing Partisan Animus in Populist Contexts: Limitations of Shared Common Humanity and Perspective-Taking Interventions, in The Ideational Approach to Populism: Consequences and Mitigation. Routledge Series: Extremism & Democracy. DOI:10.4324/9781003489993-18

  • Carlin Ryan, E. & Gómez-Cruces, J. S. (2022) Trust in Latin American Governing Institutions, Oxford Bibliographies in Political Science. Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0347.

Education

  • Georgia State University. Ph.D. Political Science. Subfields: Comparative Politics and Research Methods Committee: Dr. Ryan E. Carlin (Chair), Dr. Jennifer McCoy, and Dr. Michael P. Fix. Georgia State University. 2018-2024

  • University of Colorado. M.A. in Political Science. 2015-2017  

  • Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. B.A. in International Relations. 2007 

Teaching

  • Instructor; (MA) Language Models for Social Research, Hasso-Plattner Institute. Summer 2025

  • Instructor; (BA) Global Issues, Department of Political Science, Georgia State University. Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 

  • Instructor; (BA) Democracy & Civil Society, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Estado de México, México. Fall 2017

  • Instructor; (BA) Comparative Public Administration, Social & Administrative Sciences, Universidad Abierta y Distancia de México, México. Spring 2015 to Fall 2017

Awards and Recognition

  • Atlanta Area Computational Social Science Data Showcase Award, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, the US, 2022

Conferences

  • ”Automated Political Stance Identification in Political Texts”. Accepted at the RC33 11th International Social Science Methodology Conference in Naples, Italy. September 2025

  • “The Effects of Populist Rule on Internet Freedom". Accepted at the 2025 European Political Science Association Conference in Madrid, Spain. June 2025 

  • “Interactions with Populist Leaders in Latin America on Social Media: A text-classification analysis using BERT”. Presented at the 2024 Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, the US. January 2024

  • “Populist Rhetoric Depiction of Elites: Shadowy yet Ubiquitous?” (with Adrien Halliez). Presented at the 2024 Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, the US. January 2024

  • “Forecasting Executive Approval with Social Media Data: Opportunities, Challenges and Limitations”. Presented at the 2023 American Political Science Association Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, California, the US. September 2023

  • “The Two Dimensions of Populists in Power Rhetoric and their Online Engagement: Evidence from Presidential Twitter/X in Latin America”. Presented at World Association for Public Opinion Research, X Latin American Congress on Public Opinion in Oaxaca, Mexico. April 2023

  • “Reducing Partisan Inter-group Conflict through Shared Common Humanity and Perspective-taking: Using Holistic Content Analysis to Examine Null Experimental Results, Compliance, and Breakdown of the Mechanisms”(with Jennifer McCoy and Özlem Tuncel). Presented at the Second Helsinki Conference on Emotions, Populism, and Polarisation, Helsinki, Finland. May 2021