Goodwin worked as Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Nottingham from 2010 to 2015, and Research Fellow at the Institute for Political and Economic Governance at the University of Manchester from 2008 to 2010. Since 2015, he has been Professor of Politics at the University of Kent. His research focuses on British politics, radical-right politics, and Euroscepticism. He is the co-editor of The New Extremism in 21st Century Britain, and co-author of National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy. He is also the author of New British Fascism: Rise of the British National Party and co-author of Revolt on the Right: Explaining Support for the Radical Right in Britain. His research has appeared in the New Statesman, The Guardian, The Westminster Hour and Prospect magazine. On 27 May 2017, he predicted that Labour would not reach 38 per cent of the vote in the 2017 general election and he would eat his book if they did. Labour did and, on 10 June, Goodwin chewed one page out of his book, live on Sky News. Matthew Goodwin is on the advisory panel of the "Free Speech Union", a group founded by Toby Young that "stands up for the speech rights of its members" and "fights Twitter 'Witch-Hunts'".
''National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy''
This book attempts to explain the political phenomenon of the same name using a '4D model': destruction of the national culture due to large-scale international migration; deprivation of opportunities due to globalization and in the post-industrial economy with its frequent disruptions and slow growth; growing distrust by working-class and rural voters who feel increasingly alienated by liberal cosmopolitan city-dwelling political and media elites; and de-alignment from traditional allegiances, which can be seen in high levels of voter volatility, or people switching from one party to another between elections. National populism should not be confused with left-wing populism, which focuses on socioeconomic class rather than love of country. Eatwell and Goodwin observed that support for mainstream social democratic parties all across Europe has plummeted—in France and the Netherlands the socialists got pushed to the fringe—and predicted that nationalism and populism would remain a dominant characteristic of Western politics until the other side can build a platform that resonates better with the general public. Even after some surprising political developments such as the 2016 United Kingdom European Union Membership Referendum, many mainstream politicians still believed their constituents wanted more immigration, more deregulation, more globalization, and more cultural diversity, when YouGov opinion polls of European voters showed that their number one concern was immigration.
Honours
In 2014, at aged 33, Goodwin was awarded the Richard Rose Prize by the Political Studies Association, which is given to one early career academic each year for their contribution to research.
