About

Stephanie L. DeMora is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Stony Brook University. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Riverside, as well as MA and BA degrees from the University of Arkansas, and an AA from Gloucester County College. Prior to her current position, she was the Arlin M. and Neysa Adams Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, where she worked closely with Dr. Dolores Albarracin. Her research investigates the psychological drivers of political engagement and behavior of underrepresented groups. Her work has been published in top journals such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, British Journal of Political Science, Political Behavior, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Political Research Quarterly. She is a co-author of the book 'Party at the Ballot Box: Motivating Black Women Voters' and a contributor to 'The Cambridge Handbook of Political Psychology.' Her research focuses on understanding political psychology, social media influence on vaccination, religious values framing, and gender and political ambition.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Law
• Psychology
• Demographic economics
• Economics
• Linguistics
• Demography
• Medicine
• Gender studies
• Theology
• Social psychology
• Public relations
• World Wide Web

Selected publications

• Adolescent Exposure to Economic Inequality and Belief in the ‘American Dream’ on Entering Adulthood

  British Journal of Political Science · 2026-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract The growth in economic inequality in the United States over the past forty years has stimulated interest among scholars in the effects of exposure to inequality on the American people. A prominent vein of scholarship explores whether exposure to inequality diminishes belief in a key pillar of the ‘American dream’ – the meritocratic ideal that hard work will translate to economic success. We offer this literature a novel test that explores the relationship between quotidian exposure to economic inequality in one’s adolescent residential context and belief in the American dream among roughly 1.3 million late-adolescent Americans entering college. We find that adolescent residence in high-inequality areas is associated with decreased belief in the American dream upon entering adulthood. Further analysis revealed that this relationship is most pronounced among young Americans raised in higher income households.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Republican Pushback on Patriotism-Linked COVID-19 Vaccine Messages: A Note on Moral Reframing

  Public Opinion Quarterly · 2025-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Moral reframing theory suggests that messages that connect with fundamental values may soften resistance, especially when from a trusted source. We assess these expectations in opinion dynamics around US Republicans’ views on COVID-19 vaccines. Data are from a preregistered experiment in a national survey of Republicans (n = 3,058). Respondents were randomly assigned to one of three treatments or a control (no message) condition. Treated individuals received a message that connected vaccination to patriotism, a core conservative value, and this was attributed to a public health official (treatment 1), Republican voter (2), or Democratic voter (3). With the exception of those who were vaccinated and boosted, the message either had no effect or, more often, produced a backlash that led Republicans to express less favorable dispositions toward vaccination; backlash was stronger for messages sourced to a Democrat or public health official. Our conclusion discusses implications for moral reframing research and public health messaging.

  PublisherDOI

• Replication Data for: Adolescent Exposure to Economic Inequality and Belief in the “American dream” in Entering Adulthood

  Open MIND · 2025-11-21 · 1 citations

  dataset1st authorCorresponding

  The growth in economic inequality in the United States over the past 40 years has stimulated interest among scholars in the effects of exposure to inequality on the American people. A prominent vein of scholarship explores whether exposure to inequality diminishes belief in a key pillar of the “American dream”—the meritocratic ideal that hard work will translate to economic success. We offer this literature a novel test that explores the relationship between quotidian exposure to economic inequality in one’s adolescent residential context and belief in the American dream among roughly 1.3 million late-adolescent Americans entering college. We find that adolescent residence in high inequality areas is associated with decreased belief in the American dream upon entering adulthood. Further analysis revealed that this relationship is most pronounced among young Americans raised in higher income households.

  DOI

• Party at the Ballot Box

  New York University Press eBooks · 2025-09-30

  book
  PublisherDOI

• Motivating Future Voters: Comparing the Effects of ‘I Voted’ and ‘I Will Vote’ Stickers on Intention to Vote

  Political Communication · 2025-03-10

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Jesus was a Refugee: Religious Values Framing can Increase Support for Refugees Among White Evangelical Republicans

  Political Behavior · 2024-01-12 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access1st author

  Abstract We consider how frames highlighting religious values shape opinion among individuals who may experience social identity conflict. White evangelical Republicans have ardently supported Donald Trump’s restrictionist stances towards refugees, yet those partisan policy stances exist in tension with evangelical Christian values emphasizing care for vulnerable strangers. Our pre-registered national experiment tests whether a religious message can move white self-identified evangelical Republicans’ opinions relating to refugees. The pro-refugee Christian values message increases favorable attitudes on some, but not all, measures. The effect is comparatively stronger among those who are more committed to their evangelical identity; unexpectedly, those who identify as strong Republicans are not more resistant to the message. These results demonstrate that moral reframing, which is known to shape attitudes in other domains, can affect self-identified evangelical Republicans’ attitudes on refugees, potentially shifting the national discussion of refugees in the U.S. The finding is all the more significant given highly partisan debates over refugees during the Trump presidency, which may have made partisans’ opinions especially rigid at the time of our experiment. Our results also speak to the relevance of identity strength in conditioning the impact of religious values frames.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Motivating student voter registration

  Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · 2024-01-20 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract College student voter turnout reflects the degree to which students are being taught to support and protect democracy, long a core mission of the U.S. higher education system. Yet, college student voter turnout is generally very low. In 2020–2021, campuses around the country participated in a coordinated program to increase college student voter registration during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using survey and focus group data collected in spring 2021, we find evidence of understudied barriers to student registration that continue to restrict the effectiveness of those efforts. Specifically, we find that students need help determining whether or how to choose a political party affiliation and whether to register with their campus address. Efforts to help students surmount these understudied challenges are a potentially powerful means of increasing youth registration and turnout. We also find that students operated as knowledge brokers, sharing with family members the information they were receiving on campus about how to register and vote using new virtual options offered due to the pandemic.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• High-traffic relational pledge collection: results from a pre-registered randomized controlled trial

  Journal of Elections Public Opinion and Parties · 2024-12-22

  article
  PublisherDOI

• The consequences of misinformation concern on media consumption

  Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review · 2024-06-25 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  For the last decade, policymakers, journalists, and scientists have continued to alert us of the threat of misinformation for making sound decisions in the political, health, and environmental domains. In this study, we evaluate whether perceiving misinformation as a threat affects media use, particularly considering selection of media sources that are politically aligned. We show which groups are more likely to be concerned about misinformation and find experimental and correlational evidence of an impact of concern on greater use of politically aligned sources among Democrats. We also found no evidence that perceiving higher ability to detect misinformation decreases this association.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Social media use and vaccination among Democrats and Republicans: Informational and normative influences

  Social Science & Medicine · 2024-06-01 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Melissa R. Michelson

  21 shared

• Jennifer L. Merolla

  University of California, Riverside

  9 shared

• Maricruz Osorio

  Bentley University

  6 shared

• Christian A. Lindke

  University of California, Riverside

  5 shared

• Elizabeth J. Zechmeister

  Vanderbilt University

  4 shared

• Sarah Hayes

  Georgetown University

  4 shared

• Brian Newman

  Pepperdine University

  4 shared

• Sarah V. Hayes

  Georgetown University

  3 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Political Science

  University of California, Riverside

  2022