What Makes Students Care About Politics?
About once a year a major news outlet does a story on what we vaguely refer to as “civics education.” In the week that follows people at water coolers lament the fact that standardized tests are...
View ArticleHow a Cautious Media Can Hurt Society
The American media tends to be very conservative in responding to conflicting information, particularly when the information comes from opposing political parties. News outlets like to put all the...
View ArticleWho Wants to Repeal the Estate Tax?
A new paper suggests that among legislators, it’s the wealthy: We relate legislators’ financial assets to their roll call voting on, and cosponsorship of, legislation to permanently repeal or...
View ArticleHow Should You Craft A Political Message?
It depends on your audience: Three studies examined the production of political messages and their persuasive impact on recipients as a function of speaker–audience similarity. The first two studies...
View ArticleHow Does Cable News Influence Climate Change Beliefs?
A new study suggests it’s through the way media coverage affects trust (or distrust) in scientists: There is a growing divide in how conservatives and liberals in the USA understand the issue of global...
View ArticleWas the Push For an Assault Weapons Ban a Bad Idea? Digging into the “Door In...
The Senate’s sad failure to pass any kind of gun control legislation has led to the rehashing of what can now be deemed failed political tactics. Much of the focus has been on the decision of gun...
View ArticleThe “Bradley effect” Is Alive and Well For SSM Polling
New research from the University of Maine’s Richard Powell: Prior public opinion research has identified a wide range of circumstances in which polling results may be tainted by social desirability...
View ArticleHow Does Political Ideology Influence Views On Accountability?
Accountability is all the rage these days, whether it’s with regard to schools, hospitals, government agencies, or the local Geico car insurance branch. But not all accountability is the same, and a...
View ArticleWhy Pundits Cling to Idiotic Theories About Obama’s Power
Political scientists and poli-sci minded journalists have recently upped the snark and condescension aimed those in the media who don’t understand that the president can’t make people do things they...
View ArticleWhen Is a Country Likely to Break Out Into Civil War?
When there’s not unity among opposition movements: Wars within states have become much more common than wars between them. A dominant approach to understanding civil war assumes that opposition...
View ArticleWe’re All Just Looking For a Patsy
If often seems as though policy-making has devolved into nothing more than a contest where the goal is to blame as many people as possible (but not yourself) for the country’s problems. Fossil fuel...
View ArticleWhat if 501(c)4 Organizations Had to Disclose Their Donors?
The IRS kerfuffle has increased interest in the tax code by about 5700%, and one outcome is that people are starting to put the various exemption groups under a microscope. Dylan Matthews has...
View ArticleThe Trouble With Politicians Who Always Talk About Values
Last spring Paul Ryan spoke about the latest version of his budget, promising it “offers a better path, consistent with the timeless principles of our nation’s founding and, frankly, consistent with...
View ArticlePeople Think Secret Information Is Better Information
The recent disclosures about the extent of the NSA’s domestic spying program add to a long history of incidents in which the American public has gained access to information that was once secret. And...
View ArticleThe Hazards of Debating Race and Inequality
Imagine there is a certain advantaged group of people that supports a policy that harms a disadvantaged group, and you believe there are hints of racial or ethnic bias underlying their position. Even...
View ArticleShould Crazy Political Candidates Be the Norm?
From a new paper by Jens Großer and Thomas Palfrey: We study a citizen-candidate-entry model with private information about ideal points. We fully characterize the unique symmetric equilibrium of the...
View ArticleThe Link Between Political Views and…Video Sharing Behavior?
From a new paper by Bradley Okdie: We examined whether participants’ political beliefs significantly predicted likelihood of forwarding political videos and the characteristics of the targets of these...
View ArticleAre We Losing the War on Climate Change Cinema?
Views on climate change tend to have the unfortunate quality of being influenced by exposure to partisan media rather than through careful, unbiased research. This is not a quality unique to climate...
View ArticleHow Do Economic Conditions Affect Public Attitudes Toward Science?
The recent global recession has been accompanied by calls to spur economic growth with more investment in science and technology (S&T). In the U.S. such calls have largely gone unanswered, but...
View ArticleYes, Fox News Matters
From a new paper by Penn’s Susanna Dilliplane: This study uses multiwave panel data from the 2008 presidential election to investigate the impact of partisan news exposure on changes in vote...
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