He holds a master's degree and PhD in political science from Illinois State University and Texas A&M University, respectively. A scholar of U.S. executive politics, Vaughn's current research examines the strategic dimensions of presidential rhetoric, empirically analyzing how U.S. governors communicate with the public as they seek to sell their policy agenda. Vaughn is the co-editor of Controlling the Message: New Media in American Political Campaigns (New York University Press, 2015, with Victoria Farrar-Myers) and Poli Sci Fi: An Introduction to Political Science through Science Fiction (Routledge, 2016, with Michael A. Allen).