Scott Matthews

Dr. Scott Matthews is a Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia and has held prestigious fellowships, including the Fulbright Canada Visiting Research Chair at Vanderbilt University and the Humboldt Fellowship at the University of Mannheim. His research focuses on elections, voting behavior, and public opinion in established democracies, with a particular emphasis on Canada and the United States. He explores topics such as campaign effects, retrospective voting, policy attitudes, and the impact of economic inequality on democratic processes.

• Education:
  • BA, Simon Fraser University
  • MA, Simon Fraser University
  • PhD, University of British Columbia

Dr. Matthews' research investigates how political information shapes voter decisions, including the influence of campaigns, economic news, and institutional contexts. His work has been published in leading journals such as the American Political Science Review and the British Journal of Political Science. He is a core member of the Consortium on Electoral Democracy and contributed to the Canadian Municipal Election Study. His recent book, Quality Control: Experiments on the Microfoundations of Retrospective Voting, co-authored with Austin Hart, explores the psychological foundations of voter accountability.

His awards include the Fulbright Visiting Research Chair and Humboldt Fellowship, reflecting his international scholarly contributions. Dr. Matthews has advised numerous research initiatives, including the Canadian Election Studies of 2011 and 2015. He has also directed the Canadian Opinion Research Archive at Queen’s University and served as a visiting scholar in Germany and the United States.

He is actively involved in teaching courses on empirical methods in political science and American politics, emphasizing rigorous research and analytical skills.