Draft:Matthew R. Miles

Matthew Miles is an American political scientist and professor at BYU-Idaho. He is a frequent host of the podcast This Week in Mormons and is one of the founders and co-hosts of the Real Mormonism podcast.

Early Life and Education

Miles earned a B.S. in psychology from Brigham Young University in 2000. He began his career as a relationship banker with Bank One, now Chase Bank. While in banking he adopted his first son from Sumy Ukraine and his wife gave birth to their first child.

His family moved to Kansas where he worked with Community Living Opportunities providing foster care to developmentally disabled adults. While in Kansas, he and his wife adopted two more children from Astrakhan Russia and he completed an MA in Russian/East European Studies, an MA in Political Science and a PhD in political science from the University of Kansas. Donald Haider-Markel was his dissertation advisor.

Career

Miles has worked as a faculty member in the Department of History, Geography, and Political Science at Brigham Young University Idaho since 2013.

Miles is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His comments have been sought on political issues involving religion, campaigns, and political behavior in Idaho.

In 2023, Miles joined with his two friends Shawn and Sam to develop the Real Mormonism podcast promoting their faith in the discussion of contentious political issues and other current events.

Miles is a regular host of the This Week in Mormons podcast. He and his sister Melissa interview noteworthy LDS church members and illuminate the role that LDS faith and culture play in daily life.

Selected Works

Books

• Religious Identity in US Politics. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2019. ISBN 978-1626378094

Articles

• "The Burden of Bad Intentions: Analyzing Politicized Administrative Burdens", The American Review of Public Administration, 54(6), 507-517. with Chad and Lynita Newswander.
• "Personality Traits and Approaches to Political Representation and Responsiveness: An Experiment in Local Government.", Political Behavior 45, 1791–1811. with Hans J.G. Hassell and Adam M. Dynes.
• "There is No Liberal Media Bias in the News Political Journalists Choose to Cover." Science Advances 6(14), pp. eaay9344. with Hans J.G. Hassell and John B. Holbein
• “Why Public Employees Rebel: Guerrilla Government in the Public Sector." Public Administration Review Vo. 80 (1) 64-74. with Gary E. Hollibaugh and Chand B. Newswander.
• "The personality of the politically ambitious." Political Behavior, 41(2), pp.309-336. with Adam M. Dynes and Hans J.G. Hassell
• "Presidential Appeals to Moral Foundations: How Modern Presidents Persuade Cross-Ideologues." Policy Studies Journal. Vol. 44, pp. 471-490.
• "Some Folks You Just Can't Reach: The Genetic Heritability of Presidential Approval." Presidential Studies Quarterly. Vol. 45(4) 760-77.
• "Turnout as Consent: How Fair Governance Encourages Voter Participation." Political Research Quarterly. Vol. 68 (2) 363-376.
• “The Bully Pulpit and Media Coverage: Power without Persuasion.” International Journal of Press/Politics. Vol. 19 (1) 66-84.
• Process Over Outcome: How Perceptions of Procedural Fairness Influence Conservative Support for Redistributive Taxes." The Social Science Journal. Vol. 51 (4) 615-626.