Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha Template

Welcome!

I am Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha, Professor and Chair of Political Science at the University of North Texas and hold a Ph.D. in political science from Texas A&M University. My research focuses on American political institutions, specifically the presidency, mass media, and public policy.

I have published in several journals including the American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Political Communication, and Congress and the Presidency, and have written numerous book chapters.

My first book, The President’s Speeches: Beyond “Going Public”, explores the impact of the president's speeches on the adoption and implementation of public policy.

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My second and most recent book, Breaking through the Noise: Presidential Leadership, Public Opinion, and the News Media, examines presidential leadership of the public through news coverage.

Breaking through the Noise

Modern presidents engage in public leadership through national television addresses, routine speechmaking, and by speaking to local audiences. With these strategies, presidents tend to influence the media's agenda. In fact, presidential leadership of the news media provides an important avenue for indirect leadership of the public, the president's ultimate target audience. Although frequently left out of sophisticated treatments of the public presidency, the media are directly incorporated into this book's theoretical approach and analysis.