Me and @elizabethsim0n.bsky.social are working on a paper using data from ~1991 that indicates Reform voters haven't been Labour voters since at least 1997.

This idea is not helpful and wrong - that going left will only help in London. Take Southampton, a distinctly average city. Labour lost 5 seats to Green/Lib Dem and 2 to Tory. The latter two were also previously Conservative.

Southampton is also interesting for where the gains were. Reform gain in the wealthier and poorer areas. Greens gain in the city and student areas. Labour held in the poorest and most diverse ward (Bevois) and a ward I can't explain yet (Bitterne Park), which I thought would be Green/Reform.

The lifestyle of academics equivalent to the preparations of D Day I see

Truly fascinating - and a real palate-cleanser!

Public support has often been treated as a backdrop to global governance. But in a review article with @the-peio.bsky.social, @jonastallberg.bsky.social and I argue that what the public thinks matters for how (well) international organisations operate: link.springer.com/article/10.1... #poliscisky

🚨 Job alert! 🚨 Postdoc in Comparative Politics/Public Opinion/IR (3 yrs) @unigreifswald.bsky.social Work on democratic resilience in times of crisis using cross-national survey data. flexible start (earliest possible) deadline: 31 May 2026 🔗 www.uni-greifswald.de/en/universit...

I have submitted a paper to @ajpseditor.bsky.social . It is submission #608 at the journal That makes this year an average of 5.7 papers a day, up on last year's 4.7 a day, which was already the highest ever. Probably the 'top' journals are getting the first wave of AI-helped papers.

I have submitted a paper to @ajpseditor.bsky.social . It is submission #608 at the journal That makes this year an average of 5.7 papers a day, up on last year's 4.7 a day, which was already the highest ever. Probably the 'top' journals are getting the first wave of AI-helped papers.

I mean, at this rate, I really will have to open up that cafe+bakery! Thanks @ddc-sdu.bsky.social for the warm welcome, and for letting me talk about the politics of charts based on @jeppjournal.bsky.social work with @justynabandola.bsky.social @sotiriagrek.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1080/1350...

At the #ecprjs26, I had the pleasure of meeting early-career scholars to discuss publishing in @ejprjournal.bsky.social. One rewarding part of being an editor is learning about the incredible research taking shape. I look forward to seeing these projects develop. Photo: @ecpr.bsky.social

🎉 Online first: What moves voters' trust in a political party? @annkristinkolln.bsky.social's new study shows that a party's pledge record and its procedural transparency shift trust by 7–26 points — read by voters as signals of ability and integrity. 🔗 doi.org/10.1080/0140...

The call for papers for #EPOP2026 in Liverpool (17–19 September) is now open! We welcome submissions across all areas of research on elections, public opinion and parties. Deadline: 26 April Submit your proposals here: www.liverpool.ac.uk/politics/eve... @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social

i put together a bunch of the photos of dive bar bathrooms i’ve taken over the years and compiled them into a FREE digital zine. check it out if you are a little freak like me who loves grimy spaces marked by the passage of countless human dramas merrittk.itch.io/dive-bar-bat...

Today I'm looking forward to presenting our paper on (political) candidate evaluations, accents, and social class, at Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin. Featuring my favorite slide of examples of the accents and a (not comprehensive) map of their prevalence...

New this year: students writing emails with chatGPT. I hate it. Not for any luddite reasons; just that they're all the same and all long.

Okay. What the fuck am I supposed to do. I'm supposed to do that?

A great effort and service to the field by @mcchacha.bsky.social and @floriangkern.bsky.social! With my editorial hat on, more journals should be thinking about how they can support the pipeline of research coming to them. Intervening in these kinds of ways also helps build better & wider networks.

There is a rare permanent job in the UK - assistant prof (lecturer) in political science with a focus on quant methods www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRD143/a...

There is a rare permanent job in the UK - assistant prof (lecturer) in political science with a focus on quant methods www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRD143/a...

At @poqjournal.bsky.social there is a call for papers on a special issue on Artificial Intelligence and Survey Research. If you have papers on this obviously important topic then here's a link for more information! static.primary.prod.gcms.the-infra.com/static/poq/d...

British workers are being set up to fail. A factory worker in Germany or France has access to nearly twice as many machines, robots & modern equipment as a worker doing the same job here. Businesses need to invest and the government needs to incentivise them to do so: www.ippr.org/articles/tur...

A hat trick of @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social prizes last night! @elizabethjevans.bsky.social for the Mackenzie Book Prize, @dbonansinga.bsky.social for Specialist Group of the Year @psa-italian.bsky.social & @williamlallen.bsky.social for the Joni Lovenduski early-career achievement award. #psa26

Posted this a few years ago, sigh. Humble brag time! A student said they enjoyed my course today 😊 (brag). But also I hate myself and everything I do, I think I am a fundamentally negative force in the world, I feel trapped in my own skin always doggedly pursued by the one I most loathe (humble).

Also, ~two thirds of the public still describe themselves as working-class - largely stable for decades - yet a political class that seems completely terrified to use this as a valid, powerful social group to address. And there's evidence 👇

📢 Our article on institutional trust development during adolescence is now also featured in ECPR's The Loop! Check it out if you want to know the main findings and their implications for democratic accountability. With @cvalebeek.bsky.social

Excited for the @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social conference in one week! Colleagues are presenting work on topics including populist visuals, Labour and AI, irregular migration, and party politics. They're also on roundtables about Brexit, the UK academic job market, and a book launch. Say hi! #psa26

The new generational divide is those who remember when we weren't allowed to use Wikipedia because it was unreliable vs now.

Two things can be true: i) QS rankings are heavily subjective, corruptible, self-fuelling and generally an outrage against social science measurement; ii) nonetheless, Politics & IR at Southampton is bloody good, on the rise and great fun, and I'm delighted to be part of it.

*PSA OPPORTUNITIES* 📢 EPOP2026 Conference – Call for Papers ➡️ The Department of Politics at the University of Liverpool is delighted to be hosting the EPOP Conference, 17-19 September 2026. EPOP is a PSA Specialist Group @psaepop.bsky.social 📆 Paper proposal deadline: 26 April 2026 buff.ly/VhJaxlg

This has left me quite speechless. Nils summarizes it.

I hope my midlife crisis is less embarrassing

This and more at the actual event

Best and most fun conference in the schedule.

This week I'm enormously privileged to be in Toronto at York University for an event on populism, immigration, and trust. I don't know if I know anyone in Toronto, but I'm here for a few days and very happy to meet and explore the city. events.yorku.ca/events/gspia...

I'm currently in Switzerland and some of the food in pretty decent cafes is cheaper than in Southampton. The average salary is over double. The UK is insanely expensive.

EPSS Travel Grants for 2026 Belfast conference: PhD students & junior scholars @ institutions in European countries that are often underrepresented, can apply for full fee waiver & £500 stipend Apply: lnkd.in/ehXjhCgf Deadline: March 8, 11:59pm GMT. More details: lnkd.in/eZTP5sWR

The real generational divide

New piece from w/ @hannahbunting.bsky.social & @jess-smith.bsky.social on the Gorton & Denton byelection, and what it might tell us about British politics. We cover turnout, late-deciding voters, gender gaps & the continuing fragmentation of the party system 🧵 theconversation.com/late-decider...

🚨 TADA Speaker Series Spring 2026 schedule is here! 🚨 We've assembled a fantastic lineup of researchers exploring the future of survey research in the age of LLMs. Mar 18 - May 27, online at 17:00 CEST. Join us! More info & signup: tada.cool

Just a flavour, but there are currently four 'permanent' jobs on jobs.ac.uk in politics, and **not one** in the UK.

It's possible that the new Green MP Hannah Spencer is the only parliamentarian who had a manual job immediately before election. Are there any others?

Why a man with a fragile ego and inability to take a loss would choose ACADEMIA then POLITICS as a career is beyond me.

Facing a probable defeat, call into question the process and blame it on your base's outgroup.

Blog post summarizing my research with Kyra Rodriguez on the class gap!

The UK emerging into sunshine after months of darkness

I don't know why, if AI can do all of those things, it can't also just do the question, pre-analysis plan, and the analysis.

Vibes

Although I can sort of understand it, you'd be hard-pressed to not see this as a very generic millennial-terraced-house living room