Matt A. Barreto,PhD

Founding Partner & President

Matt is Founding Partner and President of BSP Research and is founding Senior Advisor to Building Back Together. In 2022 Barreto directed Latino polling and messaging research for the DCCC which was credited as critical to Democrats better than expected performance in the U.S. House. He also implemented polling for BBT and the DNC and advised allied groups on best messaging to persuade and mobilize Latinos in 2022. Other clients Barreto advised in 2022 include Climate Power, Planned Parenthood, Latino Victory, Indivisible, UnidosUS, and Mi Familia Vota.  Matt was formerly the co-founder of the research firm Latino Decisions, which he left at the end of December 2020.

In 2020, Matt was a pollster for the Biden presidential campaign directing polling and focus group research for Latino voters. His research was credited with informing critical Latino mobilization efforts in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Nevada, among other states. Matt worked with the Biden campaign to conduct large-sample Latino-specific statewide polling in 9 states, the most comprehensive research effort in a presidential campaign, as reported by Newsweek, was a key component in the 2020 victory

Barreto’s work with the Biden campaign, White House and DNC has led him often being interviewed by national media outlets including the New York Times, NBC News, Washington Post, ABC News, Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, Vox, USA Today and more

In 2018, Barreto was one of the DCCC’s earliest hires to for their year-of-engagement plan which conducted extensive research and messaging strategy to understand the best ways to communicate and engage with Latino voters across dozens of competitive battleground districts. In a 2018 post-election article, the New York Times wrote that Matt “conducted nationwide focus groups to better identify the needs of Latino voters and to tailor a proper message.” According to DCCC chair Congressman Ben Ray Lujan, “Latinos showed up to the polls because we talked to them, we listened to them, our candidates connected with their personal stories, we knocked on their doors we reached out online.”

Matt also directed research for groups such as Priorities USA, House Majority PAC, and CHC BOLD PAC in 2018 to understand Latinos views in the midterm, challenges and opportunities to mobilizing the Latino vote and message testing. In 2016, Matt conducted polling and focus groups for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. That same year, he also directed Latino outreach research for the U.S. Senate campaigns of Catherine Cortez-Masto (NV) and Michael Bennet (CO).

Working closely with Gary Segura, he has also overseen large multi-state election eve polls, battleground tracking polls, extensive message testing research and countless focus groups. He has been invited to brief the Obama and Biden White Houses, U.S. Senate, Congressional Committees, and has been a keynote speaker at many of the major Hispanic association conferences including NALEO, LULAC, CHCI, UnidosUS, among others.

Matt has a Ph.D. in Political Science, and is Full Professor at UCLA in the departments of Political Science and Chicana/o and Central American Studies.