Biography
Brian J. Gaines is the Honorable W. Russell Arrington Professor in State Politics for the University of Illinois system, and a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He received a BA with honours from the University of British Columbia and AM and PhD degrees from Stanford University, where he was also the playing president of the ice hockey club. Most of his research deals with elections, electoral rules, and public opinion. With Wendy Cho and Jake Bowers, he co-edited the Political Methodologist from 2010-2013. From 2011 to 2015, he was the editor of American Politics Research. Between 2005 and 2007, he completed marathons on all seven continents.
Education
BA (honours): UBC, 1988
AM: Stanford, 1989
PhD: Stanford, 1995
Additional Campus Affiliations
Professor, Political Science
Professor, European Union Center
Recent Publications
Gaines, B. J. (2025). Life-or-Death Framing of Public-Health Policy in a Pandemic. Journal of Experimental Political Science. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1017/XPS.2025.7
Chaudoin, S., Gaines, B., & Livny, A. (2021). Survey Design, Order Effects, and Causal Mediation Analysis. The Journal of Politics, 83(4), 1851-1856. https://doi.org/10.1086/715166
Gaines, B. J., & Kantack, B. R. (2020). How Motivation Influences Political Decision Making. In D. P. Redlawsk (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia: Political Decision Making Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1017
Gaines, B. J., Redfield, K., & Mooney, C. Z. (2020). How Will Illinois’ Push for Mail-In Balloting Affect Voter Confidence in the November 2020 Election? (Policy Spotlight). Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois. https://doi.org/10.25417/uic.14727519.v1
Gaines, B. J. (2020). Ongoing Expert Advice on Pandemic Policies. (Policy Spotlight). Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois. https://doi.org/10.25417/uic.14691150.v1