Presidential primaries often come down to this choice: do you vote for the candidate you like the most, or do you vote for the candidate who is most likely to win? Factions within political parties often disagree over this question. This election season, Republicans have debated whether to nominate someone ...
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The notion that Americans should get a "tax receipt" has gotten a lot of attention. Third Way has promoted the idea and developed an on-line calculator that actually provides one. The White House has a calculator too. The idea is that any American should be able to see where their ...
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Are we, as a nation, closely or deeply divided? I have always been compelled by the argument that observing a 50-50 election outcome (or an evenly split poll result) tells us very little about whether each half of the electorate hates the other half – or whether we are all ...
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Talk of austerity is sweeping Washington these days. In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama told Americans that the country’s current fiscal situation is “not sustainable,” and called for a series of “painful cuts” in government programs, including a five-year freeze in domestic spending, reductions in ...
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The recent tax compromise between the President and Congressional Republicans is dominating headlines – the extension of the Bush era tax cuts could mean a difference of several thousand dollars to the typical family. Do voters care? For most American, not enough to pay to change things. Let us explain: ...
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As the 2010 midterm election came to a close, pundits and observers were claiming it was the most negative campaign ever. While I doubt such a claim is true, the Wesleyan Media Project does have some data that suggests the 2010 elections may at least have been the most negative ...
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In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC, the subject of corporate sponsorship of political advertising has been extremely controversial, with President Obama going so far as to directly criticize the decision during a State of the Union Address with Supreme Court justices in attendance. ...
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I've got more bad news about what people know.In two previous blog posts, I wrote that survey respondents were, on average, quite mistaken about the proportion of illegal immigrants in their state, as well as the proportion of their state making over $250,000 per year.It seems that Americans are similarly ...
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The theater of campaign politics had a full stage this election. A slew of novice candidates brought advocates of armed rebellion against the Federal Government, anti-miscegenationists, a Nazi-uniform-wearing WWII reenactor, and even a witch. Well, she’s not really a witch…. She’s you. Beyond the theatrics, it is unclear what voters ...
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While pundits and activists bemoan the consistently low levels of turnout in American elections, we as political scientists are perplexed by the millions of citizens that DO vote. On Tuesday, 42% of registered voters took time out of their day to travel to their assigned polling location, wait in line, ...
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