The University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, and Vanderbilt University’s Center for Global Democracy, in partnership with Inter-American Dialogue, invite you to join policymakers, congressional staff, scholars, civil society leaders and democracy practitioners for The Pulse of Democracy in the Americas, a policy forum marking the release of the 2026 AmericasBarometer regional report.

Drawing on one of the world’s most comprehensive cross-national public opinion studies, the forum will examine new evidence from the 2026 AmericasBarometer on democratic resilience, institutional trust, governance, migration, public security, and political change across the Americas and explore the implications of these findings for policymakers, practitioners and democratic institutions.

This year’s report expands the AmericasBarometer in important ways, including Cuba in the dataset for the first time and extending its comparative framework to include the United States and Canada alongside Latin America and the Caribbean.

PROGRAM

WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS

Maura Policelli

Executive director of the Keough School’s office in Washington, D.C.

OVERVIEW OF THE 2026 AMERICASBAROMETER

Mariana Rodríguez Vargas

Director of research and engagement, Center for Global Democracy and LAPOP Lab, Vanderbilt University

FROM PUBLIC OPINION TO POLICY: UNDERSTANDING DEMOCRATIC CHANGE ACROSS THE AMERICAS

Mary Gallagher

Marilyn Keough dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs (Moderator) (@MaryGao)

Noam Lupu

Director, Center for Global Democracy, Vanderbilt University

Abby Cordova

Associate professor of Global Affairs, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame

Rebecca Bill Chavez

President & CEO, Inter-American Dialogue (@RebeccaBillChav)

Oliver Stuenkel

Member, Inter-American Dialogue; Senior fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (@OliverStuenkel)

THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY IN THE AMERICAS: A FIRESIDE CONVERSATION 

Juan Cruz

Member, Inter-American Dialogue; Senior Advisor, Dinámica Américas

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS