I know who needs to read this: political science does not require natural laws that apply unconditionally to be a science. It needs human beings to not be completely random or idiosyncratic in their behavior. I do agree that political science is hard in a way the physical sciences are not, though.

It's really true. I remember observing in his first term that Trump's worst interviews were often with friendly reporters.

Next year, I'm teaching graduate "scope & methods." I want to mix "what is political science," "how to write a paper", "research design for causal inference", and "how to increase the credibility and public value of political science." Any reading recs for 1st semester grad students?

Yet another fun thing going into my Research Design course next year.

Teaching grad research design when I get back from sabbatical... so this'll come in handy!

Look I know I'm old but I honestly had no idea that the Pomplamoose guy was the CEO of Patreon.

One reason why any healthy democracy needs at least two relatively healthy political parties where each sometimes wins an election, and neither destroys the democratic system when it does, is that winning elections is hard. The idea that everyone who ever lost an election is stupid is not correct.

This is an incredibly simple and effective way to communicate an important (and pretty unfortunate) point.

This is the sound of candidates losing the struggle against the crushing weight of partisan gravity. This is nationalization and polarization and presidentialization swallowing everything else. This is the dangerous collapse of dimensionality, in one chart leedrutman.substack.com/p/the-modera...

These numbers are striking.

Super glad to see this in print! It was a labor of love for @alexanderfurnas.com, @geofflorenz.bsky.social, and I -- we really love these data and think they have plenty of potential outside of this paper. Thanks to the Center for Effective Lawmaking for feedback! thelawmakers.org/legislative-...

It's true. A few days before heading to MPSA (which was great!) I got word that I'm being tenured and promoted to Associate Professor, effective August. This career has been a gift, and I know that the institution of tenure is itself increasingly precious. I hope to use it well.

This was a fun fact to learn! Small world indeed. Go Matadors!

At conferences, I expect to meet people I’d only really known on social media. I didn’t expect one of them to have gone to my rival high school. @geofflorenz.bsky.social

Excited to share that my paper on citizen-to-citizen persuasion, co-authored with Carlos Rueda-Cañòn and @tjryan02.bsky.social, was just accepted at the Journal of Politics @thejop.bsky.social . Link: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... 🧵

Been wondering what to do with that awesome dissertation on legislative politics defended in the past two years? Nominate it for the Carl Albert Dissertation Award! Submission deadline March 30th! Link for deets (note: one nominee per degree-granting dept). connect.apsanet.org/s3/carl-albe...

🚨 New year, new working paper 🚨 "In Control but Incoherent: Institutional Power, Electoral Politics, and Message Discipline in Congress" with Gechun Lin (WUSTL). Available here: benjaminnoble.org/files/papers... Read on for the 🧵 version…

New Cambridge Element 'Cooperating Factions' by @blumrm.bsky.social & @profhansnoel.bsky.social is now free to read for 4 weeks! cup.org/4iqOjiu "This Element uses data on party leader endorsements in nominations to identify a network of party actors..." #cambridgeelements #politics

It's hard to study the effects of most causes... but exposure to media coverage is one of those things we *can* randomize. When we do, the basic finding is straightforward: People (of all political orientations) update in the direction of information, by a small amount.

Come join us at Nebraska! My department is searching in REP with a policy emphasis. Not on committee but happy to answer questions. Job ad here: employment.unl.edu/postings/92973

When your corgi is buffering

the overton window is a mask off moment for crossing the rubicon

Woo done for the semester finally. Also, turned in my tenure packet last week. Best of luck to everyone going through the process in the coming year!

Whether you think of power as a currency you spend or as a position you hold seems to have pretty big implications for your political strategy (e.g., utopian or incrementalist)

I'm bad at politics but if one's response to one's rival doing what one wants for a change is "You did the bare minimum, no one should praise you" I suspect, on the margin, that that lowers the probability that said rival will do what one wants again in the future

Okay y'all help me out 🙏. What's the name/cite for the following idea: e.g., if being a member of Congress means you spend all your time messaging and not lawmaking, people who want to message will run for Congress and people who want to make laws will not. It's like a selection feedback loop?

Nebraska: did you know Spring is the season of WIND ALL THE TIME? Me: well at least the temperatures will be stable and reasonable right? It's Spring! Nebraska: ... *giggles to self* Me: ... right? Nebraska: TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR WITH LIGHTNING EVERY 10 SECONDS AT 4AM BECAUSE NO SLEEP FOR YOUUUUUU

Who's lobbying on what with whom in the U.S. states? Very proud to be making this major transparency and democratic accountability tool available free to the public. This dataset has 14 million lobbying records in 17 states, on all issues. And cool network graphics 4u.

Today Brown University launched How Do They Lobby, a website tracking millions lobbying and testimony positions on bills in state legislatures across the US. Check it out here: howdotheylobby.org

"New" w/ @laginagause.bsky.social @ @igajournal.bsky.social : How separation of powers and resource constraints shape interest groups' venue selection decisions: link.springer.com/article/10.1... *New == 10 years old, started as a term paper for a graduate seminar. Very different now!

Given that LLMs are maybe good about picking up cmmonly discussed themes, I'm sort of wondering if a key human skill will be picking up new themes. ... i'm just saying in a generation English lit majors might be the only graduates getting jobs.

@mollyereynolds.bsky.social 's "the rules aren't magic" is so right. People treat the rules like inviolable institutions. But those rules were solutions to particular problems at particular times, and lawmakers today must solve problems that arise today using procedures that work today.

political science friends - any pieces to recommend on the limits of conjoint experiments? Best and worst uses?

My department is examining our undergraduate required quant methods course. If anyone's got a syllabus/materials they like, I'd appreciate any tips!

In my top ten proudest accomplishments is that I correctly predicted the number of times Taylor Swift would be shown during the Super Bowl. Needed OT to get there but we did it ppl.

Inspired by the monotony of my review queue, here are 10 open American politics research questions that DO NOT involve the attitudes of Democrats and Republicans and can be answered with public data Please, study literally anything other than the attitudes of Democrats and Republicans. Here we go!

First post here...really excited to announce a new Carnegie Corporation of New York grant w/ Ingrid Haas and Geoff Lorenz, UNL PoliSci.

I’ve been extremely surprised by the whole university presidents Congressional hearing debacle. First, I’m surprised by the number of people who think Rep. Stefanik was somehow acting in good faith or is some sort of friend of Jewish people. She wasn’t and she isn’t.

Best take I’ve seen so far. Congressional testimony can have legal implications but is always political. You have to get the politics right if you expect the committee is hostile.

Speaking as someone who spent a lot of time in fencing and kendo, the funniest part about all these "IDW guys with swords" is that they're all holding the swords terribly. Like if those swords were sharp there'd be a lot fewer attached fingers in some of those pictures.

Hello, congressional scholars & fans: I maintain a Ruby gem called Statement that scrapes lawmakers' sites to extract press releases. I'm thinking about the gem's future & would love feedback on what could make it more sustainable & useful. github.com/dwillis/stat... polisky

Along the lines of a thread on registered reports and publication bias, a question: Is there a case (hypothetical or real) where reviews/publication decisions SHOULD be based on results/findings? I.e., should anything NOT be a registered report?

Scholars sometimes claim that interest groups misrepresent their position strategically. Like saying publicly they support a bill they actually oppose. I don't think this happens often, esp during divided govt. What would be a convincing test of how often this actually happens?

I don't have a take on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, but I have a lot of questions. Does anyone have a good explainer/analysis of what we know about the strategy, goals, etc, here? This all just seems insane to me, which tells me there's a lot I do not know.

That's my secret Cap, my entire class this semester is about Congress. But it is a fun coincidence is that this week is on parties in Congress.

As a native Californian, one of the first national political figures I can remember from my childhood was Dianne Feinstein. May she Rest in Peace.

Fun fact, from a project. In the last couple congresses (haven't look at previous), House Ds much more frequently cosponsor each other's bills than House Rs do.