New in Nature: LLMs give "the party line" in the languages of authoritarian regimes. This works when they control the media, which feeds pretraining data. We show more state control over the media means less critical LLMs. 6 studies spanning 38 languages & 13 models. Details ↓

I was interviewed for some statements about narrative/discourse co-optation by the right, linked below. If you’re interested in this stuff, I’ll be presenting on how this happens on social media at APSA 👩🏻‍💻

A breath of fresh air today at the New School ☀️

ICYMI my solo article on MENA identity. When MENA Americans aren’t given a “MENA” option on forms, they answer identity-related questions on politics more strongly (eg higher end of the scale) than if“MENA” had been added. Having the group label or not changes the average response!

"the decline in [academic freedom in] the United States has been more rapid and pronounced, particularly in the last year. It has deteriorated by 50% from 2015 to 2025 and is now evaluated as moderate autonomy by country experts" academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...

great stuff by @davekarpf.bsky.social "Journal articles aren’t social science. They’re just a unit of measurement. They’re how we keep score. Producing journal articles isn’t what we are actually meant to be doing — we’re supposed to be learning meaningful things about people, power, and society."

Are you a social scientist who has been hearing about Claude Code but hasn't checked it out yet? Or are you a social scientist who has been playing with Claude Code and has been wondering what it means for the future of social science research? www.brookings.edu/articles/the... 1/

🧵on my new paper "Synthetic personas distort the structure of human belief systems" w Roberto Cerina I'm v excited about... 🚨 Do synthetic samples look like human samples? We compare 28 LLMs to the 2024 General Social Survey (GSS) to find out + develop host of diagnostics...

The way those men HOLLERED when he said it too in the video, so gross. #everyonewatcheswomenssports

Joe Rogan helped Trump with one thing he always wants more of: male voters. @melinamuch.bsky.social expands in our latest episode ➡️ linktr.ee/americanfriction #JoeRogan #Trump #TrumpElection #USpolitics #AmericanFriction

Should Harris have gone on Rogan? Check out my response here on American Friction. Thanks for having me @jacobjarvis.bsky.social @chrisjonesprod.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/16Uy...

Why is it so hard to keep track of Joe Rogan's politics? @melinamuch.bsky.social explains how he bounces around and then social media clips confuse things more ➡️ linktr.ee/americanfriction

Probably a day to promote this research from David Cortez. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Steve Levitsky, the co-author of How Democracies Die, on the dangerous place we have reached as Trump escalates: “Orbán doesn’t arrest journalists,” he said. “And in Hungary if you walk the streets of Budapest or other Hungarian cities, you will not find heavily armed masked men abducting people."

I wrote a piece for @slate.com on Gen Z, sexism, and why the “most progressive generation ever” narrative misses something important. Short version: Gen Z is uniquely progressive on race. On gender, not so much. slate.com/news-and-pol...

DOGE was A LOT less likely to cancel contracts from companies that donated money to Republicans than companies that donated to Democrats.

Is Joe Rogan really just a voice of the right? Our new @csmapnyu.org piece for @goodauth.bsky.social shows he’s just as much a space for the left and the center, too. A look inside today’s surprisingly complicated podcast information ecosystem. 🎙️ goodauthority.org/news/podcast...

#OpenAccess from @politicsgenderj.bsky.social - Women or Fetuses First? An Experimental Study of the Effectiveness of the Pro-Life Movement’s Use of the “Pro-Woman” Frame - https://cup.org/48qJXVm - @profamandaroberti.bsky.social, Kyle J. Morgan & @katiekrumbholz.bsky.social#OpenAccess #FirstView

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#OpenAccess from @polanalysis.bsky.social - Survey Professionalism: New Evidence from Web Browsing Data - https://cup.org/3KWgqtg - Bernhard Clemm von Hohenberg, @tiagoventura.bsky.social, Jonathan Nagler, @ericka.bric.digital#OpenAccess& Magdalena Wojcieszak #FirstView

We fed an LLM 30,000 podcast episodes to see where politics sneaks in to influence young folks… @csmapnyu.org Come hang at our #APSA2025 panel Podcasts and Partisanship in American Politics Sat, Sept 13, 8:00–9:30am PDT (11:00–12:30pm EDT)

My awesome co-author with our poster about the GenZ gender gap and podcast consumption at PolNet/PACSS! If you didn’t see us here catch us at APSA at the PolCom preconference and Saturday first thing in the morning 💃🏻 @csmapnyu.org

In the words of Nelson Mandela: it always seems impossible until it’s done. My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it. I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City.

We have gone from the margin of error to the margin of effort. On the day before the election, we stand on the verge of toppling a political dynasty and winning a city we can afford. But we can only do it with you. zohranfornyc.com/gotv

Since its founding, the US has engaged in nearly 500 foreign military conflicts and operations. Congress has formally declared war in only five of these. All wars are crimes. Only a handful have been Constitutional.

I am thrilled to share a new article in Sociological Methods & Research, “Quantifying Narrative Similarity Across Languages”. My co-first author Sol Messing and our collaborators developed a new approach to measuring “narrative similarity” between texts: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Want to hear more from fantastic EGEN scholars? Follow this starter pack! go.bsky.app/SeabEZc

The Democratic Party’s age problem isn’t just bad, it’s much worse than Republicans’. Half of registered Democratic voters are under 50, yet half their senators are over 67. Despite claiming to represent the future, party leadership systematically blocks younger voices from gaining power.

Woke up to the exciting news that my first solo-authored paper is available online at PRQ. While the road for the paper has been long, I’m thrilled to see it out. Big thanks to all the mentors and groups that helped, especially @egenpolisci.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/eprint/TKCS9...

I have never seen anything like this in NYC. 5th Ave covered from 42nd St well to the 20s. Nobody prepared for this volume. Volunteers are holding the traffic on all the side streets. No police in sight. #handsoff

2025 EGEN Prize Announcement: We are thrilled to announce the results of the 2025 prize competition. The EGEN prize committee selected 5 Prize Recipients and 3 Honorable Mentions this year! @tiffanydbarnes.bsky.social @teele.bsky.social @mirya.bsky.social

“I insist on being shocked. I am never going to become immune. I think that’s a kind of failure to see so much of it that you die inside. I want to be surprised and shocked every time.” ― Toni Morrison

1/🧵 Judges across ideological lines are ruling against Trump at strikingly similar rates (84% liberal, 86% centrist, 82% conservative). This isn't partisan opposition to Trump—it's the judiciary functioning as intended by cutting across partisan lines to uphold the Constitution.

It's well known that politicians take more extreme positions during primaries. In @electoralstudies.bsky.social, we find this shift is much more likely when incumbents in safe seats face a well-funded primary challenger. 🧵👇 authors.elsevier.com/a/1kn5KxRaZn...

Intrusive thoughts - google trend search edition.

The single most effective way to raise GDP is to give girls access to education. But Heritage is so committed to patriarchal misogyny, they're willing to crash the economy to force women to have unwanted babies rather than pursue their own dreams and family planning on their own schedule.

American Republicans are ideologically much more like people in Russia or Turkey than they are like members of European right-wing parties, and this only happened in the last 25 years. www.ft.com/content/3046...

There used to be a bipartisan consensus that rejected traditional gender roles. Not anymore. Republican men *and* women increasingly endorse traditional roles. Here's a 🧵 based on a new New York Times piece by @tesler.bsky.social, Colette Marcellin, and me.

The DOGE Purge Isn’t About Efficiency—It’s an authoritarian tactic. I wrote a more in depth piece on the empirical evidence showing how liberal-leaning agencies are being disproportionately targeted and how this mirrors authoritarian strategies seen in Hungary and Turkey.

Finally made the BlueSky move! Thrilled to see how much academic community is on here #late