Lots of amazing and well-deserving political scientists on the 2026 American Academy of Arts & Sciences inductees list, but a special shout out to my friend and collaborator, Dave Campbell. A great scholar and an excellent friend. So pleased to see him recognized. www.amacad.org/new-members-...

🚨Job opportunity🚨 UNC Poli Sci is hiring a postdoc (one year renewable) to advance research on political behavior, with a special focus on free expression in higher education. Competitive salary and benefits. No teaching. Please encourage people to apply. Ad: timryan.web.unc.edu/wp-content/u...

I have been glancing at the news all day and remain uncertain about the basic factual question of whether or not, during the next two weeks, tankers transiting the Straight of Hormuz need to pay a fee to Iran.

(respectful) counterpoint: "The Victors" should be played with so much bass the building shakes.

… But how is he going to reach a thoroughly considered opinion on the matter without both sides having a fulsome opportunity to present the merits of their positions??

“House rejects” would make you think, you know, that the House voted on the proposal and it was defeated. But no. If it went to the floor, it would probably get 300 votes. This just seems to mean like 5 guys on the Rules Committee won’t bring it for a vote.

Happy Norman Bourlag Day! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_...

Kid’s school is preemptively cancelled tomorrow due to weather. I expect this cancellation to egregiously fail my “if the nearest Mattress Firm is open, school should be open” test.

Conditionally accepted at the APSR (w/ @scottclifford.bsky.social & @patrickpliu.bsky.social): Why does political information so often change beliefs but NOT attitudes? We highlight the role of belief relevance, or the extent to which beliefs bear on attitudes.

Dear ANES community, the link below introduces our new Board of Advisors, led by Jamie Druckman. Jamie follows John Aldrich, who deftly chaired the Board for nearly 2 decades. This new group will guide us through the 2028 election cycle. Our deepest thanks to outgoing and incoming Board members!

I didn't watch a moment of the State of the Union. Someone please tell me: is my understanding of public affairs impoverished?

I just hope both teams have fun.

Really surprised and disappointed at how few of my students showed up for my optional Zoom makeup class that happened today, a well-being day. It could have been a three part crescendo from UNC / Duke game Superbowl Logarithmic models with Professor Ryan

Today seems like a nice day to re-up @leahchristiani.bsky.social 's excellent research on when white people approve of blatantly racist political messages. Not sure what made me think of it today, but anyway. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The Donut Rule for inclement weather school closures: If the donut store nearest to the school is open, then the school should be open. (Public schools in my area are closed for the third day running.)

For protecting [armed troops], by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States. www.archives.gov/founding-doc...

Near as I can tell, an ICE agent pulled the trigger for 2/3 of the deaths by gunfire in Minneapolis so far in 2026.

If the United States invades Greenland, would this be ethically better, worse, or the same as Russia invading the Ukraine? Why?

Can we please make it a rule, enforced at the submission stage, that if your experiment is pre-registered, you must include a link to the pre-registration or include the pre-registration in your appendix? Amazing to me how many manuscripts I review assert pre-registration, but don't show it to me.

Time for student subject pools to make a comeback! 🚀

Not great, Bob.

Careful, folks. ChatGPT appears to be daydreaming today.

And the award for journalistic understatement of the year goes to…

Something that the Santos commutation crystallizes for me is that Trump does not only *tolerate* corruption, such as when it serves his interests. (This would be bad enough.) He proactively rewards it, even when unrelated to his interests. (See also Eric Adams--a Democrat!)

At Harvard, students can register for two classes that meet at the *same time* because classes are Important and we’re Very Serious about education. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/u...

AI tools helped me finish a replica of the regimental flag that my 3x great grandfather fought (and died) under during the Civil War. It's based on a photo of the deteriorated flag that I got from the New Jersey State Museum. I like how it came out! And what it symbolizes.

Today's cute teaching example of the kind of policy that a federal bureaucrat would need to make: when a blind person hires someone to groom their seeing eye dog, is this a tax deductible medical expense? See below for the answer.

Nice mention of my Free Expression work, three paragraphs from the bottom.

Apropos of nothing, here is a montage from the great 2008 series Generation Kill where John Sixta--the battalion yutz--bangs on and on about adherence to the "grooming standard." (NSFW) www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQr9...

You want my letter of recommendation to be answers to six questions that you came up with, and that are specific to your organization. I want to write one general purpose letter that covers all the same substance and that I can upload to *any* organization. We are not the same.

UNC Political Science is hiring in methods! UNC has an amazing department and the triangle is a great place to live. Tenure Track Assistant Professor in Methods (Deadline Oct 24) link to the posting👇 unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307... #polisky #psjobs #poliscijobs

UNC is hiring in Political Methodology. Please spread the word and encourage people to apply. unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307...

Happening at UNC.

I'll credit Thomas as a committed originalist when he points to the clause in the Constitution that grants the president near-blanket immunity from criminal prosecution.

Of all the times in history that someone was handed $50,000 cash in a takeout bag, what percentage of them do you suppose were completely legitimate and above-the-board?

Political violence is bad. That’s it. That’s the tweet. (Skeet.)

The surprising thing? It turns out that couples that last always select on the dependent variable.

Declaration of Independence: 1,320 words. University-required statements on UNC course syllabi: 2,402 words. curricula.unc.edu/wp-content/u...

Neither here nor there, but I'm reading a bunch of open-ended survey responses about nuclear power and boy do a lot of people think that nuclear power produces air pollution. The stuff coming out of the big cooling towers is just steam!

Any suggested undergraduate readings providing an overview of Supreme Court processes--cert, criteria to hear a case, role of oral args, conferences, and written opinions--and maybe the shadow docket? I used to assign Gideon's Trumpet and it's just too dated. My intro class doesn't use a textbook.

What percentage do you tip, for a pure takeout order from a restaurant?

Neat image from Gemini, when I asked it to generate an image for my Intro American course landing page--one that was sober, reflective, analytical, and philosophical. And having some Americana--but without being heavy-handed (with soaring eagles and so forth). (GPT did not deliver as well.)

Worth re-upping today. You can always count on the so-called "deficit hawks" to cave like a spelunker who has fresh lamp batteries and something to prove.

A lot of times, I can squint as a SCOTUS opinion I don't like, and see it through the other side's eyes. I've read and thought a lot about jurisprudence. It's hard, and a reasonable mind can walk itself to some pretty surprising places. Nevertheless, I feel the following quite strongly: If the

🚨 NEW RESEARCH ALERT 🚨 My latest article is now available at @polbehavior.bsky.social! "Cueing Without Parties: Experimental Evidence from Peru" explores how citizens navigate politics in contexts without stable parties and deeply-rooted partisan predispositions. 📖 doi.org/10.1007/s111...

Would anybody like to be president of the University of Florida? The face-eating Board of Governors will definitely not eat *your* face! www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/u...

Spend ten minutes on Harriet Tubman’s Wikipedia page and you will learn that she had enough “warrior ethos” to hang with Marines who eat nails for breakfast and steel wool for lunch.

I have a theory that, in 2003, Harvard rejected Stephen Miller's college application.