Professor Carlson’s research broadly focuses on political communication and political psychology in American politics. Her first book, “Talking Politics: Political Discussion Networks and the New American Electorate,” along with some related articles, focus on understanding how political networks vary between individuals with different racial and ethnic identities. Despite decades of research on political networks based almost entirely on samples of White Americans, we demonstrate that racial and ethnic minority groups form political networks that are remarkably different in size, engagement, and partisan composition, all of which have distinct impacts on political attitudes and engagement. In separate work, Carlson examines how conversations -online and offline- about racialized news stories can further amplify racialization and affect support for relevant policies.