… Working with political scientist Boris Shor and economist John Voorheis, [Nolan] McCarty has released a new study that shows that the growing ideological gap between the Republican and Democratic parties — a common obstacle to getting anything done in Washington — is not just due to politicians’ incompetence or […] Read more »
Does DC reflect its districts?
Consultants and staff hear the refrain regularly from members: “I know my district/state. I know what they think.” But do they really? … Politicians are free to ignore public opinion — and some consider it a virtue to do so — but they frequently misperceive it, misjudging the views of […] Read more »
Campaign polls are still variable. Votes are still predictable.
The heat of a presidential campaign is always a delicate time for the relationship between political scientists and political journalists. While there’s been more dialogue and understanding between these two types of analysts in recent years (much of it prompted by the ease of communication between the two worlds on […] Read more »
Will the Party Decide? Or Will Donald Trump Get the Republican Nomination?
In a thoughtful post at Vox, Andrew Prokop takes issue with the idea that party insiders determine who wins party nominations. They don’t like Donald Trump, he notes, but Trump seems to be winning anyway. Voters just aren’t taking their marching orders from party leaders. So what’s going on? Have […] Read more »
Sharing qualitative data: the launch of the Qualitative Data Repository
… While data sharing, research transparency, and replication have customarily been prominent concerns for quantitative researchers, they are increasingly being seen as relevant for the qualitative tradition. Proponents of openness argue that it strengthens and improves all social science. It allows for the careful assessment of evidence-based claims. Further, secondary […] Read more »
The Congressional War on the Social Sciences
… The nation’s basic science policy, more or less secure for six decades, is being upended, a result of two converging congressional concerns. One is specific to the social sciences—are they real sciences? The second, and much broader, is congressional concern with impact, productivity, pay-off, performance—what justifies science’s claim on […] Read more »