Alexander Kustov

Biography & Research

Alexander Kustov is associate professor of migration in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame and a core-affiliated faculty member of the Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights.

Kustov studies how democracies manage immigration, ethnic relations and demographic change while sustaining broad public trust. He specializes in survey, experimental and computational methods, drawing on evidence from original polls, behavioral games, political texts and historical records. 

Kustov's book, "In Our Interest: How Democracies Can Make Immigration Popular" (Columbia University Press, 2025), examines when majorities support freer immigration despite pervasive biases. His recent work analyzes how disasters and conflicts affect cooperation and migration intentions, how issue salience shapes political behavior, and what voters expect from governments addressing population decline in their communities.

Kustov’s work has been published in the American Political Science Review, the British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, The Journal of Politics, Perspectives on Politics, and World Politics. His work has been recognized with leading grants and awards, including those from the Russell Sage Foundation, the American Political Science Association, and the Department of Defense Army Research Office. He has written for The Washington Post and Foreign Affairs, and his research has been featured in The New York Times, The Economist, The Atlantic and the Financial Times. His work also has been featured by the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Center for Global Development, and the Niskanen Center. Kustov is the author of the Popular by Design newsletter, where he writes about immigration policy solutions that make immigration more politically sustainable.

Before joining the Keough School, Kustov was an assistant professor of political science and public administration at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Postdoctoral Associate at Yale University’s Jackson School of Global Affairs. He received a joint Ph.D. in politics and social policy from Princeton University.

Recent Work

• "Immigration is Difficult?! Informing Voters About Immigration Policy Fosters Pro-immigration Views" (Journal of Experimental Political Science)
• "Beyond Changing Minds: Raising the Issue Importance of Expanding Legal Immigration" (Perspectives on Politics)
• "(In)effectiveness of Populism: A Conjoint Experiment of Campaign Messages" (Political Science Research and Methods. 12 (4): 849-856.
• "Beyond Diversity: The Role of State Capacity in Fostering Social Cohesion in Brazil." (World Development)
• "Do Anti-immigration Voters Care More? Documenting the Issue Importance Asymmetry of Immigration Attitudes. " (British Journal of Political Science)

News & Media

• "Researcher studies how to craft immigration policies that resonate with voters"
• "Conference in Rome underscores theology’s crucial role in migration research and policy"
• “How to Win on Immigration: Targeted Policies That Benefit the Economy Can Counter Rising Populism” (Foreign Affairs)
• "Why Don't You House Them Yourself?" — Because I Legally Can't: The Political Promise and Limits of Private Refugee Sponsorship" (Popular by Design
• "The Formula for Making Immigration Popular With American Voters” (Reason Magazine)
• “The coming politics of population decline” (Good Authority)
• “Immigration opponents are far more passionate than supporters” (The Washington Post)