To really understand an election, you have to understand the motivations — and the lives — of the Americans voting in it. But too often our politics misses the point, and just describes people as demographic groups or party labels. We can do better. We’ve got the data for it: […] Read more »
Public Says Pandemic Not Over, But Impact on Daily Life May Be
In a television appearance last month, President Joe Biden said, “The pandemic is over.” Only 1 in 5 Americans would make that kind of blanket declaration about Covid-19, but the latest Monmouth University Poll finds most feel it is time to put pandemic-era restrictions – such as mask and vaccine […] Read more »
Excess Death Rates for Republicans and Democrats During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Political affiliation has emerged as a potential risk factor for COVID-19, amid evidence that Republican-leaning counties have had higher COVID-19 death rates than Democrat-leaning counties and evidence of a link between political party affiliation and vaccination views. This study constructs an individual-level dataset with political affiliation and excess death rates […] Read more »
Half of Public Has Heard Little or Nothing About the New COVID-19 Booster Aimed at Omicron
Less than a month after the Food and Drug Administration authorized new COVID-19 booster shots that target both the omicron and original strains, public awareness is modest, a new KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor survey finds. Half the public says they’ve heard either “a lot” (17%) or “some” (33%) about the […] Read more »
Migration declines worsen worker shortages, inflation
… In 2015 and 2016, the United States saw a net international migration gain of more than 1 million people. It dipped to about 930,000 in 2017 and dropped to just over 700,000 in 2018. By 2020, the year of the pandemic’s arrival, it was under 500,000. And last year, […] Read more »
Parents Beg to Differ With Cataclysmic Views of Schools
The pandemic’s long-term impact on the education of American schoolchildren is, by definition, not going to be known for many years. In the short term, however, recent headlines have suggested the impact has been quite negative. News reports have highlighted the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) […] Read more »