So cool -> Quebec researchers tracked eye dilation + sweat when showing respondents political issues to see if they aligned with results from standard poll questions on issue importance. They did! And suggest asking people to choose their top issue is most reliable academic.oup.com/poq/article/...

new paper by Sean Westwood: With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research

Working on a dissertation in American political behavior and need money for survey research? Apply for a grant worth up to $15,000 from the Rapoport Family Foundation. They’re planning on awarding up to 15 grants this cycle. Deadline Oct. 22. www.rapoportfamilyfoundation.com/phdgrant

How common are “survey professionals” - people who take dozens of online surveys for pay - across online panels, and do they harm data quality? Our paper, FirstView at @politicalanalysis.bsky.social, tackles this question using browsing data from three U.S. samples (Facebook, YouGov, and Lucid):

UW-Madison PoliSci is hiring in environmental politics! Posting is linked below. I am not on the committee but am very happy to answer any questions I can about the position, department, Madison, etc.

My department @uwmadison.bsky.social is hiring an assistant professor with expertise in environmental politics. Send us your application. jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/assista...

📅 Only one week to go until APSA 2025! We’ve prepared a clear and concise visual program for the #PolComm division. 👉 Download the PDF and highlight the sessions you don’t want to miss: shorturl.at/LVuuw

There's a new issue of the section newsletter out! This one's on sample considerations in experiments: professional survey-takers, LLM usage, rural contexts, and more! connect.apsanet.org/s42/newslett...

Voting access reforms in 2020 aimed to protect democracy during a pandemic, but how did they shape political efficacy and trust? This PSJ article explores the answer. By @atrexler.com, @maraynam.bsky.social & Mallory E. SoRelle Read more here: doi.org/10.1111/psj.... #PSJ #PolicyStudiesJournal

Stony Brook is hiring in political psychology (assistant professor). Please Share! Feel free to reach out if you have question. For more information: apply.interfolio.com/170193

new working paper: osf.io/7v4zj tl;dr: taking the "marketplace of ideas" metaphor seriously requires taking the nuances of actually-existing markets seriously, which means thinking about tradeoffs between transaction costs and conformity costs. applied to misinfo and ideological belief systems.

AAPOR Statement on the Removal of BLS Commissioner McEntarfer aapor.org/statements/a...

Here's a treat for state politics and policy researchers: Ethan Dee and I published a dataset in Nature: Scientific Data with the universe of state legislative bills since ~2009 coded by 28 policy areas. We used a machine learning model built off open source components.

In my view, the window to *forestall* autocratization of the US political system is basically closed. We're now in the consolidation phase of a new authoritarian constitutional settlement. The question is how far it'll get (will it achieve its apparent goal of fascism?) & at what pace. Here's why:

Our article introducing CampaignView is now officially online! Check it out here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Causal evidence that "the proliferation of surveys may lead to lower response rates" doi.org/10.1093/jssa...

Academics/adults with backpacks: I am in the market for a new backpack. Do you have a (work) backpack that you love? I have a North Face 'Hotshot' backpack that has served me faithfully for 10+ years but is finally wearing out, so I need to replace & want to consider options. Some parameters:

For several years, I have marked the 4th by reading Frederick Douglass's 1852 speech on the subject (a copy here: loveman.sdsu.edu/docs/1852Fre...), sometimes alone, sometimes aloud to family or friends. This year it feels especially poignant. A few passages that particularly stick with me today:

With this vote, Congress makes ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in history, with more money per year at its disposal over the next four years than the budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons combined.

Jason Stanley, philosopher and expert on fascism said “You know you're living in a fascist society when you're constantly going over in your head the reasons why YOU are safe.”

You Gov numbers: "Only 16% of Americans think the U.S. military should get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran; 60% say it should not and 24% are not sure" It's going to change quickly, but let's at least remember where we started. today.yougov.com/politics/art...

If the feds’ objective is to “liberate” Los Angeles and California from its democratically elected leadership, then this not a peacekeeping mission but a program of invasion.

Another video of Senator Padilla’s violent arrest at DHS Sec Noem’s press conference in LA. You can see him thrown to the ground by FBI agents and handcuffed. (video shared by Padilla’s staff with Elex Michaelson of Fox LA and posted on X)

New paper in PSPB! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... Well, actually, not "new". We first put this paper online way back Dec 2022... in any case, we think it's really cool! We find that conspiracy believers tend to be overconfident & really don't seem to realize that most disagree with them

Call for proposals! EPOVB Early-Career Fellowship deadline: July 1, 2025 Submit to Melissa R. Michelson, at [email protected] dropbox.com/scl/fi/rcmsv...

new working paper (reposted with fixed/public link): osf.io/gbkn5

The decline of local news is undermining the volume of coverage of political scandals and the electoral consequences of them for politicians www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Don’t miss @atrexler.com & @mullinmeg.bsky.social’s open-access article, “Local News Reporting and Mass Attitudes on Infrastructure Investment,” showing that info-rich local reporting boosts support for preventative infrastructure spending. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Not the main thing here, but I keep seeing this claim from the WH/Fox/etc. that egg prices are falling, and that is just objectively, observably false.

This is yet another abuse of power by the administration — this time in response to Harvard not capitulating to the administration’s earlier unlawful demands. We have to speak out and stand up for our universities.

The call for papers for the APSA Political Communication Preconference in Vancouver is now open! Together with @ashleymuddiman.bsky.social and @patyrossini.bsky.social, we're thrilled to invite your submissions. 📅: May 25th, 2025, 11.59pm PDT (GMT-7) More information: u.osu.edu/apsa2025/

+1. Harvard standing up is great. But let's not pretend they were the first or only institution to resist. It is important to recognize the efforts happening all over, and to continue to build on those efforts collectively.

Trump defying a 9-0 Supreme Court decision is the reason I say "if we still have free and fair elections in the United States" when I talk about 2026 midterms.

Here is the situation if I’m understanding it correctly: 1. They are deporting lawful immigrants erroneously to prisons overseas 2. They are claiming no recourse to return these individuals 3. They say they are open to deporting citizens in the same way

Hi, I'm the guy who wrote the book "Administrative Burdens" and it's just objectively untrue that no one will face "unnecessary burdens" b/c *non-citizens almost never vote! *About 20M citizens don't have access to citizenship documents SAVE solves a non-problem by burdening American citizens.

After years of doubt, drafts, and disbelief, my first—and likely last—book is finally out. It’s about how entertainment shapes American politics. If you preorder (a.co/d/ctGUWkZ), I’d love to send a small token of thanks: forms.gle/1YrkYX2t2nPC...

Join the Elections Research Center 2 weeks from today for a symposium on the presidency & democracy after Trump's first 100 days. Speakers include @juliaazari.bsky.social, William Howell, @donmoyn.bsky.social, @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social, & me. Register now at elections.wisc.edu/trump-100/

We frequently criticize headlines for not conveying what is happening, so lets this. Clear, concise, and does not use the authoritarian's frame. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/u...

We hang together or we hang separately. Could not be clearer what is happening and how universities must respond.

Also, if your institution is laying low or trying to comply in advance ... they're still coming for you. Get your defenses ready and coordinate with other institutions.

Check out this new pub from my excellent student & coauthor #AllisonVerrilli in @urbanaffairsreview.bsky.social!! She's on the market folks, get it while it's hot! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Friends don't let friends run survey experiments that don't measure outcomes pre-treatment

This looks great --- earlier research on whether pre-post designs attenuate treatment effects was underpowered. This study finds modest attenuation.

Very important, thorough, and careful new paper strengthens Clifford, Sheagley, and Piston's (2021, APSR) evidence that pre-post designs don't attenuate treatment effects very much relative to the shrinkage in the standard errors. Measure outcomes before and after the treatment!