In news that the HHS should be shouting from the rooftops: Availability of the RSV vaccine for pregnant people and RSV shots for infants lead to a 50% reduction in RSV-associated hospitalization of newborns during the last year! 🥳 Spread the good word, folks! #Episky

This is hopeful.

These estimates of public support for violence (from www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/o...) are inflated - *much* higher than what we and others have found using question wording that reduces acquiescence bias: brightlinewatch.org/accelerated-... The vast majority of Americans reject political violence.

Pertinent to #wesgov214 #wesgov372

Are you an R-user looking for a ✨reproducible and free✨ solution to use #machine-translation in your #text-as-data project? Try out my new #rstats package #easieRnmt that wraps around the EasyNMT py-library for local machine tranlsation: github.com/thieled/easi...

What can the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine PSAs teach us about public health communication? In our newest COMM blog post, first author Margaret Tait breaks down her recently published research on the critical messaging missteps in federally-sponsored PSAs.

Some evidence pertinent to our #wesgov372 discussion today.

Research: Believing that the mass public in the opposing party supports undemocratic tactics leads people to be more supportive of undemocratic tactics themselves. Being assured that a majority of your opponents oppose such radical tactics increases support for democratic norms osf.io/my987/download

Social media undercuts public health and institutional trust A new study finds causal evidence that morally charged attacks generate anger and social media engagement which exacerbates the political polarization of public health www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....

If you didn't see Marion Nestle analyze the MAHA children's health strategy report on PBS NewsHour last night, I urge you to watch at this link: open.substack.com/pub/garyschw...

Excited to see my new paper "Conflating Lobbying and PACs: The Surprisingly Low Overlap in Organizational Lobbying and Campaign Expenditures" with @timlapira.bsky.social and @clarebrock.bsky.social out at @pspolisci.bsky.social!

POQ's 2025 special issue underlines the importance of qualitative research in the social sciences. Roller & Smith outline different methodological approaches to qualitative research and its critical role in social and behavioral sciences. Read now: doi.org/10.1093/poq/...

Most people in Mexico and Canada say the United States is their country's greatest threat. www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/...

Here's a scenario that someone should ask RFK Jr. about: an under-65 person with no major health conditions who is providing some in-person support for an older family member undergoing treatments that weaken the immune system. Can that person get a COVID shot? It's me, and I can't.

Great job at the Pew Research Center for a Computational Social Science Assistant: pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Center...

🚨🚨 We’re hiring! 🚨🚨 We have 3 lines open in CP, IR and IPE — all tenure-track. We offer competitive salaries, a 2:1 teaching load, in a friendly (and fully in English) environment, at one of Europe’s most sought-after cities.

Radical right accommodation really does not work. New paper out with this exceptionally talented team @katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk doi.org/10.31235/osf...

BREAKING: US job growth slowed to a crawl in August, adding only 22,000 positions. It's another indication the US labor market is stagnating. Follow live updates: https://cnn.it/4nlRiu9

Oooooh…look what was waiting for me when I got home. I’ve been hearing/reading about this from @juliaazari.bsky.social for some time, and after reading part of the first chapter, I gotta say I think this book hits at the absolute right moment. Thanks Julia!

Medical groups call on US Health Secretary Kennedy to step down reut.rs/4neBOrN

William & Mary is conducting a search for a tenure track assistant professor in comparative politics, with a focus on Europe. Deadline for applications is early October, although there's some flexibility. Reposts appreciated. williammary.wd12.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/WM/det... .

Single member legislative districts are just such a bad system, especially when parties are polarized (i.e., in any modern political system) Forthcoming APSR shows firms, not just voters, are gerrymandered into/out of districts for partisan gain ungated SSRN version papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

In my NORC 2024 panel, respondents who didn't match to the voter file were *18.5 percentage points* more pro-Trump than the sample overall. My guess: Trump voters were less willing to give the information needed to match to voter records.

Notre Dame is investing in democracy research in lots of exciting ways, including these hires. Happy to talk to senior folks about working at Notre Dame and living in South Bend. (Spoiler: There are lots of good reasons I've spent my entire career here).

NEW STUDY: Types of science🧪 articles shared on Bluesky: Health 29% Social 25% Physical 23% Life 23% arxiv.org/pdf/2507.18840 Worth reading--lots of other insights! Lately, I've been sharing our new article on global religious decline www.nature.com/articles/s41...

“Among those laid off in the CDC include employees who help other countries track violence against children as well as those who work to prevent child abuse and teen dating violence. “There are nationally and internationally recognized experts that will be impossible to replace”

NEW Economist/YouGov Aug 15-18 % who think federal funding for scientific research done by American universities should increase | decrease U.S. adult citizens 39% | 13% Democrats 63% | 2% Independents 39% | 14% Republicans 17% | 22% today.yougov.com/politics/art...

Cuts to public media and higher education may create the perfect storm to impact one group of learners in particular: student journalists Mine for @insidehighered.com www.insidehighered.com/news/student...

We’ve updated our estimates! We used likely the best data for this for adults and youth. And sadly, it might be the last time for a very long while. The federal government has STOPPED data collection on gender identity and transgender people. It could take 8+ years before we can do this again.

New: As Trump's approval rating slips, his signature tariffs and tax bill face more opposition than support among the public. Most also disapprove of the administration's handling of information related to the Epstein investigation -- including 53% of Republicans. www.pewresearch.org/politics/202...

New CBO estimates of the coverage impact of reconciliation law. Its #Medicaid cuts will raise uninsured by 7.5M in 2034 out of total 10M uninsured increase under law. 87% of coverage losses from Medicaid cuts are result of work requirements & provider tax restrictions. www.cbo.gov/system/files...

We know that a consensus of opinions is persuasive, but how reliable is this effect across people and types of consensus, and are there any kinds of claims where people care less about what other people think? This is what we tested in our new(ish) paper in @psychscience.bsky.social

Ideologically extreme candidates don't solicit more small dollar donations. New at @respol.bsky.social from @sysilviakim.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

RFK Jr. has now officially stated that he will dismantle the United States Preventive ServicesTask Force (USPSTF). This is an independent body of expert scientists who volunteer their time to review data and provide guidance to Americans on important things like cancer screenings.

Meta to pull political ads in EU in response to new disinformation rules https://on.ft.com/4lEloIK

CBO now says there will be 10m more uninsured from the “OBBB.” But the estimate of 4.2m uninsured from the enhanced ACA tax credits expiring at the end of the year stands. So we are looking at 14+ million more uninsured over 10 years unless that changes.

“ACA health insurance will cost the average person 75% more next year, research shows” “The average person who buys Affordable Care Act insurance will be paying 75% more for their premium, according to the analysis from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group.”

New opportunity at the Institute for Advanced Study! The School of Social Science is hiring an Academic Assistant to support faculty & an international community of scholars. Pls share with folks in your network who might be interested in joining our team. recruiting.paylocity.com/recruiting/j...

UC Berkeley is hiring an Assistant Professor this fall, with a preference for candidates in International Relations, American Politics, or Public Law. I am on the committee and glad to answer questions. Please apply! aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF04948

Very happy to see this out! We show that defending democracy against autocratizing incumbents is possible, but an uphill battle!

If the first 100 days’ attacks on health felt too overwhelming to keep track of, there’s a reason. As @scottlgreer.bsky.social @hjarman.bsky.social @xrkulik.bsky.social & I show in Lancet, sweeping cuts to funding, insurance, data, etc will have a dire impact. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The partial repeal of the ACA through the Big Beautiful Bill is a stunning development. Here are some @jhppl.bsky.social articles that offer insights into what just happened--and what might come next. @haroldpollack.bsky.social @sarahgollust.bsky.social 1/N

⚡ KFF’s @liz-williams.bsky.social compares the increases in the federal Medicaid cuts in the Senate-passed reconciliation bill with the House-passed bill across states. #QuickTake on.kff.org/44zOKRr

We're in so much trouble

Our new policy watch examines the potential impacts of federal Medicaid spending cuts on expansion states vs. non-expansion states:

Interactive public opinion data ⬇️

New research w/ @kirabojackson.bsky.social & @julia-turner.bsky.social on NBER homepage “Universal Pre-K across 9 states & cities increased LFP by 0.8 pp, employment by 0.9 pp, & weekly hours worked by 0.42, with strongest effects for moms. Each $1 spent on UPK generated >$3 in additional earnings”

I think it's very important for researchers to write to their local newspapers, speak out to local TV/radio, and otherwise make their voices heard. With that in mind, here are some tips for folks who are interested in writing an op-ed piece. 🧵🧪

Female PhD students (in economics) benefit tremendously from having female faculty around. When female professors go on leave, it decreases third-year female PhD students’ likelihood of publishing & securing academic positions. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....