I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of South Carolina and received my PhD from Stony Brook University in 2019.
Broadly speaking, I study political behavior in American politics. My research has looked at
how political beliefs shape how people react to political messaging and the political environment, examining how
partisanship influences the effectiveness of
political value rhetoric,
how political predispositions overrode the effects of issue framing and source cues in the beginning stages of
COVID-19, how prejudice and immigrant characteristics shape immigration support,
and how candidate support (or lack thereof) influences partisanship
as well as reactions to election predictions in determining turnout.
I am especially interested in how the social world intersects with the political world. I have investigated
this in a few ways. First, I have examined how people’s desire to present themselves well to others shapes
people’s political expressions—looking at how this can influence their reported
political attitudes,
political values,
affective polarization,
partisan attachment, and civic engagement.
Second, I have researched how dynamics of interpersonal political interactions
can influence people’s broad political attitudes, examining how
motivations,
gender,
tone,
expectations of conflict, and confidence influence the occurrence, processes, and outcomes of social communication about politics.
Third, I have examined how general interpersonal interactions are shaped by—and shape—politics,
looking at how
political anger
decreases social interactions between partisans, how often and under what circumstances people
sever social ties due to politics, and how
group perceptions and social networks shape feminist affiliation.
Lastly, I am in the beginning stages of work looking at the strength of social over media influence in politics,
focusing on how trust differentials shape the incorporation of political information.
My work has been funded by Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences,
has received multiple awards from the American Political Science Association, and has been published or is forthcoming in
Cambridge University Press' Elements in Experimental Political Science series, The Journal of Politics,
Public Opinion Quarterly, Political Behavior, Political Science Research and
Methods, and the Journal of Experimental Political Science.
Watch me talk about some of my work
here,
listen to me talk about some of my work
here, read about some of my work
here, or reach out to me here: