Xavier Medina Vidal is the Diane D. Blair Professor of Latino Studies and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Arkansas. Medina Vidal is a subject-matter expert in Hispanic/Latino political behavior, immigration politics and Mexican politics.

He is a researcher with the Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society and has a new analysis on immigration and race findings from the newly released 2016 Blair Center Poll. The Poll examines the views of white, African American and Latino Americans toward immigration politics and policy issues.

His research has appeared in several academic journals including Electoral Studies, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, Latin American Politics and Society, and Political Research Quarterly. Among his current projects are studies of the effects of home-country media exposure on Latino immigrant participation in the U.S., the role of social media in the development of Latino/Hispanic identity, Latino immigration to the U.S. South, and Mexican and Mexican-American political behavior in the context of North American integration.

Medina Vidal received his B.A. in economics and Spanish with a minor in Chicano studies and an M.A. in political science from the University of New Mexico. He earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California-Riverside.