How politicians leverage our survival instincts to influence our votes

The term “tribalism” has become ubiquitous in discussions of modern-day political conflicts. It’s a useful metaphor because it’s grounded in historical fact. For most of our species’ history, humans lived in tribes, and there’s evidence that these groups sometimes battled for scarce resources. This ongoing struggle shaped our primitive brains, […] Read more »

Poll shows Virginians favor Lt. Gov. Fairfax remaining in office as he challenges sexual assault allegations

A new poll shows that Virginians slightly favor Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) remaining in office as he fights allegations of sexual assault, the first such finding in statewide polling since the scandal broke three weeks ago. Forty percent of Virginia residents said Fairfax should not resign, compared with 31 […] Read more »

Virginia poll: Northam approval weak, but Virginians not demanding his resignation

A new University of Virginia Center for Politics/Ipsos poll of Virginia adults shows Gov. Ralph Northam (D) with weak approval numbers, but Virginians surveyed are not demanding his resignation and do not favor the state legislature removing him through impeachment. Meanwhile, a plurality of respondents say Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax […] Read more »

Yes, Virginia, This is Chaos

Saying that anything in the annals of American political history is “unique” or “unprecedented” is dangerous, for the simple fact that the past is filled with so many oddities from which we can draw parallels. That said, we’re struggling to come up with something equivalent to what we’ve seen in […] Read more »

Liberals and conservatives see sexual harassment claims very differently. This explains why.

Over this past year, the #MeToo movement has put sexual harassment claims front and center in the news. … We wanted to know whether conservatives and liberals reacted differently when sexual misconduct allegations were made about one of “their own.” Drawing on previous research, we hypothesized that conservatives would express […] Read more »