%0 Journal Article
%T The Dynamics and Political Implications of Anti
%A Matthew Motta
%J American Politics Research
%@ 1552-3373
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1532673X17719507
%X Recently, Americans have become increasingly likely to hold anti-intellectual attitudes (i.e., negative affect toward scientists and other experts). However, few have investigated the political implications of anti-intellectualism, and much empirical uncertainty surrounds whether or not these attitudes can be mitigated. Drawing on cross-sectional General Social Survey (GSS) data and a national election panel in 2016, I find that anti-intellectualism is associated with not only the rejection of policy-relevant matters of scientific consensus but support for political movements (e.g., ˇ°Brexitˇ±) and politicians (e.g., George Wallace, Donald Trump) who are skeptical of experts. Critically, though, I show that these effects can be mitigated. Verbal intelligence plays a strong role in mitigating anti-intellectual sympathies, compared with previously studied potential mitigators. I conclude by discussing how scholars might build on this research to study the political consequences of anti-intellectualism in the future
%K anti-intellectualism
%K antiscience attitudes
%K verbal intelligence
%K public opinion
%K political psychology
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1532673X17719507