On Sunday, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said this of President Obama’s 2012 campaign during an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation”: “He didn’t win in a landslide. He won by three percentage points, but he won by waging a very effective campaign, and he won by in some ways […] Read more »
How Much Does Ideology Matter in Elections?
Just how much does ideology matter in an election? In a recent article in Commentary, Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner argue that it matters a lot, to the point where it cost Mitt Romney the presidency: [cont.] Seth Masket, U. of Denver (Pacific Standard) Read more »
It’s not Romney’s fault – the economy helped re-elect Obama
Sometimes there are beliefs that just won’t die, no matter how false they are. Witness a new article in Commentary by Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner. The authors argue that given the weak economy, Mitt Romney should have won the 2012 election. To be fair, these authors didn’t invent the […] Read more »
Video: Presidential Pollsters: Tracking Public Opinion
During the 2012 election, presidential campaigns used a sophisticated mix of quantitative and qualitative data to understand voter concerns, test ideas, and create the most compelling messaging for their candidates. In this discussion, top researchers from the Obama and Romney campaigns provide a behind-the-scenes look at this process. Institute of […] Read more »
All In: Free ebook chapter from ‘The Gamble’
All In is the third free eBook preview chapter from John Sides and Lynn Vavreck’s groundbreaking Fall 2013 book, The Gamble: Choice and Chance in the 2012 Presidential Election. Picking up where the second chapter, “Random, or Romney?” left off, “All In” continues the story of the 2012 Republican primary, […] Read more »
Political ads: Not as powerful as you (or politicians) think
In the weeks before the 2012 election, pundits debated the impact of President Obama’s team’s unorthodox advertising strategy and Mitt Romney’s side’s last-minute “ad bomb.” Now, with the election returns in, we can begin to assess just what the presidential candidates and their allies got for the hundreds of millions […] Read more »