Matt Motta

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From the piece:

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Research shows that the higher one’s consumption of such media, the more likely people were to reject the scientific consensus regarding the nature of the virus and how to minimize its spread. As the political scientists Matt Motta, Dominick Stecula, and Christina Farhart recently wrote [...]

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We discuss June's primary results, Medicaid expansion in OK, and what it all means for the upcoming runoff and general elections. 

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I talk with Tulsa World about what Oklahoma's 2020 primary election results and the passage of Medicaid Expansion might imply for the 2020 General Election. 

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From the piece: "In the face of those headwinds, the high levels of trust in scientists are remarkable. “I haven’t seen much evidence that trust in scientists or trust in the scientific community has eroded,” said Matt Motta, an assistant professor of political science at Oklahoma State University, who studies the intersection of politics and science. But he said he was still concerned about the future, particularly if a vaccine is approved, which would require widespread adoption to protect a community."

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From the piece: "Republicans clearly see OK-5 as one of their best chances to ‘flip’ a House seat, and they’re correct to see it that way,” said Matthew Motta, a political science professor at Oklahoma State University. “The race has attracted several fairly well-financed challengers. And, because President Trump won the district by more than 13% in 2016, most non-partisan election analysts classify the race as a toss-up.”"

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I talk about the possibility that the popularity of alternative remedies for COVID-19 could interfere with evidence-based efforts to support collective immunity. 

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We talk about the electoral strategy of holding a major indoor event in Tulsa, in the middle of a global pandemic, and why turnout for the event was lower than the campaign initially expected. 

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From the piece: “How quickly do we forget?” wonders Matt Motta, a political scientist at Oklahoma State University. “How long does it take for us to say, ‘Okay, that wasn’t so bad’?” By the time a vaccine is on the market, the worst of the coronavirus crisis may very well be over. The strictest shelter-at-home restrictions will likely be lifted too. All the misinformation aside, a vaccine, instead of being like a savior, may feel like too little, too late.

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From the piece: "approximately one in five Americans have already expressed unwillingness to get an eventual COVID-19 vaccine, according to an April 15 survey undertaken by Matt Motta, an assistant professor of political science at Oklahoma State University, and Kristin Lunz Trujillo, a University of Minnesota graduate student."

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With Josh Jansa: we explore how concerns about COVID-19 might be neutralizing the partisan disagreement about support for universal vote by mail. 

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Title: "A majority of vaccine skeptics plan to refuse a COVID-19 vaccine, a study suggests, and that could be a big problem." 

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Republished in outlets like: Snopes, US News and World Report, Salon. 

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"Motta analyzed two sets of Pew Research Survey data that had overlapping respondents (one on Americans' concerns over COVID-19 and the other on Americans' views on childhood vaccines), and found a 40% overlap between those skeptical of vaccine safety and those who believe the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is exaggerating the risks of COVID-19."

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I break down Oklahoma's Super Tuesday results throughout the evening, and explain the logistics of the primary process in a supplemental Facebook Live video. 

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"Tulsa's Channel 8 hosted a "Your Voice, Your Vote" roundtable with former Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett, former congressional candidate Tim Gilpin, and Oklahoma State University political science professor Dr. Matt Motta"

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I talk about best practices for doing public facing research as an early career scholar with the American Political Science Association (APSA).

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Dr. Mendez and I chat with ABC's morning show about the Senate impeachment trial, and respond to viewer tweets live on air. 

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Daunting as the problem may be, millions of people still don’t accept the premise of its existence: Depending on how you ask, only about half to two-thirds of Americans believe that climate change is caused by humans, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center.

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“If climate scientists are not seen as dedicated to providing reliable information in as neutral a way as possible, that could erode support,” Caldeira said.

Indeed, a 2018 survey found that the March for Science had a polarizing effect on people’s opinions of scientists, increasing positive attitudes among liberals and negative attitudes among conservatives.

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Op-ed in Tulsa World about the state of Medicare Expansion public opinion polling in Oklahoma (including original analysis of CCES data).

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I discuss expected turnout and results of Tulsa's special election on the Improve Our Tulsa ballot initiative.

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Discussion about the impeachment inquiry into Pres. Trump, and what to expect in the 2020 House & Senate races in Oklahoma. 

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Discussion of our Social Science and Medicine article on the psychological correlates of parental vaccine delay behavior, and the challenges that this presents for science communication.

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Research published in Social Science and Medicine cited as evidence of the Dunning Kruger effect in public health, and a challenge for science communication efforts to combat anti-vaccine misinformation. 

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Article published at Behavioural Public Policy featured on the United Nation's Office of Disaster Risk Reduction's PreventionWeb news site.

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"We speak to Matt Motta, Professor at Oklahoma State University, about how to convince people to pay attention to real risks that they will likely face. Using earthquakes as an example, our guest explains how some folks do not have sufficient information about potential risks, while other people avoid thinking about the problem. Either way, the likely victims don’t take any action to protect themselves from risks."

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Summary of our work, published at Behavioural Public Policy, in the aftermath of two major earthquakes in southern California. 

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From the article:

“People like it when politicians respond to disasters,” Motta said. “But we don’t care nearly as much about the preventative side. I think what we observed last week in Southern California should be a wake-up call.”

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Monkey Cage piece about how question design influences the measurement of public climate change beliefs. (With: Dom Stecula, Dan Champan, & Kathryn Haglin).

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Interview with Earther about The Guardian's new editorial style recommendations regarding how journalists refer to climate change, and how "crisis" language might disengage skeptical audiences. 

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""New research out this week on climate-change polling and an interview with a Republican lawmaker have underscored the importance of words when it comes to such a complicated and divisive topic.

What they found: Researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center say the proportion of Americans who think climate change is driven by human activity ranges from 50%–71%, all simply based on how you ask the question."

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Interview with ABC (AUS) The Signal podcast about the pervasiveness, causes, and policy consequences of anti-vaccine attitudes in the U.S. 

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Monkey Cage post about "victim blaming" and negative partisanship. With Steven Webster.

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A summary of our work at Social Science and Medicine, via The Conversation. (With Tim Callaghan & Steven Sylvester).

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"Vaccines might be one of the greatest medical accomplishments in history, mitigating deadly diseases such as smallpox, polio, and measles. Then why, in the last two decades, has the anti-vaccine movement gained significant traction? Lou discusses how misinformation and bad “science” can put children all over the world at risk."

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With Kathryn Haglin & Dominik Stecula.

"Looking at the latest research, we review the effectiveness of several communication strategies designed to reduce misinformation about the flu – and childhood – vaccines."

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Research on the STEM candidates who ran for Congress in 2018 was featured during FiveThirtyEight's election night coverage.

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Why do campaigns "go negative," and are they effective? I discuss what recent research in political communication has to say on these questions.

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Piece on my recent article on Americans' science funding attitudes, published in Public Understanding of Science. 

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“But one of the things that I often tell people is that it’s important to recognize that while the distrust of scientists and while the rejection of scientific consensus is more common on the ideological right, it exists on the ideological left as well,” says Motta. “It is less common, but there are certain issues on which liberals look a lot like conservatives in their rejection of science and scientific expertise.”

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"Knowledge is power. Or at least that’s how the saying goes — but when it comes to climate change and its causes, that knowledge hasn’t translated into action. Postdoctoral Fellow Matthew Motta discusses why climate research is often disregarded, where Americans’ suspicion of scientists comes from, and how our interest in science affects our trust in scientists."

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"Science can polarize people, as well as bring them together. The 2017 March for Science exacerbated — rather than healed — partisan divides, according to a survey published in the journal Political Science and Politics by Matthew Motta, a postdoctoral fellow in the science of science communication at the University of Pennsylvania."

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Summary of recent research published at Social Science & Medicine (w/ Tim Callaghan & Steven Sylvester). 

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From Paul Rautner: "A survey carried out by a team led by the postdoctoral researcher Dr. Matt Motta at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center, found that people “low in autism awareness,” who lacked knowledge about basic facts and were keen to believe misinformation, were more likely to believe they knew the topic better than the experts. This “overconfidence,” as the scientists called it, led to the people not supporting mandatory vaccinations policies and exhibiting skepticism about the role of medical professionals in political decision-making. " 

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Policy brief about the enduring and bipartisan effects of science interest on trust in climate scientists. 

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" In a study recently published at Nature Climate Change, I demonstrate that interest in scientific topics at young ages (12-14)  is associated with increased trust in climate scientists decades later in adulthood, across the ideological spectrum. "

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"In a letter recently published at Nature Climate Change, I investigate the effect of young adults’ (aged 12-14) interest in scientific issues (“science interest”) on trust in climate scientists, when they become older. Analyzing longitudinal survey data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY), I find that people who are highly interested in science at young ages tend to be more trusting of climate scientists in adulthood"

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"A study done by Matthew Motta of the University of Minnesota delves into how people might escape ideological blinders. Motta found that people with a long-term interest in science tend to trust scientific authorities like NASA and the IPCC when it comes to climate, regardless of what their political persuasions may be. It's the latest result that indicates that a "scientific curiosity" can get people past their ideology."

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I discuss why so many Millennials are open to the possibility that the world isn't round, and discuss why recent survey results might be over-estimating Flat Earth support. 

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Political Independents have become more skeptical toward climate change consensus in the past year. I discuss how recent changes in the group of people who call themselves Independents might explain this phenomenon.

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In wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, many are asking whether or not microtargeting "works." I discuss relevant academic research on the subject, and argue that more personalized advertising isn't necessarily more effective. 

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Interview with Brian Kahn (Earther) about where the March for Science stands, half a year later.

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Interview with Access MN Radio about the decline of trust in experts, and what that means for American democracy.

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LSE USAPP blog post about the dynamics and implications of anti-intellectualism in the United States.

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Monkey Cage post on growing dislike for experts, and the implications that has for American politics.

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Blog post about why some Americans conceive of two seemingly-synonymous terms quite differently, and the political implications of these differences.

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Brendan Nyhan discusses the potentially polarizing effects of the March for Science on public opinion. I offer some quotes and new data on the March, and its influence on public attitudes toward scientists, academics, and their research more broadly.

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Interview about recent Washington Post article on the prevalence of "Trumpism" in Denmark.

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Monkey Cage post about the popularity of Donald Trump in Denmark, compared to the United States.

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Interview with Matt Stolle about the aftermath of the 2016 Election on social media.

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Discussion of national election polls in the final week of the 2016 Presidential Campaign

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From the piece: “Even though many Americans accept misinformation about the origins of Covid-19 (e.g., that it was created in a lab), belief in the ‘Plandemic’ conspiracy has largely been relegated to only the most ardent conspiracy theorists. That’s in part due to the relatively swift action social media companies took to remove the video from their platforms,” he wrote. “Sinclair’s decision to air this interview without challenging its claims risks pushing some of these extreme views into the mainstream.”

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I chat with the BBC about the upcoming virtual DNC, and what it might imply for the 2020 Election.

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I discuss the specifics of two ballot proposals on Tulsa's 8/25 ballot, and their potential implications for city governance.