Labels can impact politics. My paper @apsrjournal.bsky.social "What Happens When You Can't Check the Box?" shows when Middle Eastern & North African (MENA) Americans are excluded from identity categories, they assert MENA identity when answering relevant political questions. doi.org/10.1017/S000...

How most presidents avoid upsetting the racial status quo—and why those who do pave the way for lawless, norm-violating successors. Backlash Presidents by @juliaazari.bsky.social is out now. Learn more about this incisive book and order yours: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... #PoliticalScience

States that have the political capital to do so should be securing access to K-12 ethnic studies courses to preemptively address this. These courses are publicly popular, bolster a number of academic outcomes, and are politically empowering. (1/2)

MAHA vs the U.S. corn lobby is going to be a real Let Them Fight situation

Measles cases hit record highs with RFK Jr. in charge. Now, his hand-picked vaccine panel just voted to make it harder for little babies to get vaccinated for measles and other diseases. How does that keep our kids safe?

My latest from the GenForward Survey. Our national sample of young adults has told a fairly consistent story over the past four election cycles: young voters are hungry for a progressive, economic agenda that appeals to people across racial, economic, partisan, and geographic divides.

New NYT/Siena poll of the NYC mayoral race has- *Mamdani: 46% *Cuomo: 24% *Sliwa: 15% *Adams: 9% www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/n...

Unions don't just protect a single worker, they protect and empower entire families. I have never had a union job, but my career has greatly benefitted from my spouse's union job. I've been able to take risks, do jobs that were longer-term investments, and negotiate harder because of the stability.

‘Tis the season where I daily daydream about the role I feel I was born to play: gay man spiraling over soggy bottoms and underproofed dough on the Great British Bakeoff. A great piece by season 4 contestant, Ruby!

For those who don’t know a “clap out”is when fellow employees line the exit & beyond to clap together in appreciation for respected colleagues, esp the truly best of them, as they walk by, departing their positions for good. Clap outs are the least the 3 deserved. RFK & his cronies NEVER gon get em.

A lot gets said about Chicago at the national level, but what folks overlook while invoking tired tropes about the city is that neighborhoods are incredibly organized at the hyper local level and will adeptly resist a federal presence.

imagine being so maniacally racist that you side with the fire over the firefighter

Democrats just picked up a seat that was +11 pts for Trump in 2024 to break an Iowa supermajority. Trump wants to appear indomitable. But he's also a lame duck and those winds can shift quickly. www.the-downballot.com/p/iowa-democ...

The Full Release of the ANES 2024 Time Series Study is now available! The data and documentation can be downloaded from the ANES website at: electionstudies.org/data-center/...

I’ve spent the summer interviewing white urbanites across the U.S. Many rightfully decry federal takeovers of cities while also espousing a quiet reverence for local efforts to clear homeless encampments such as those in D.C.

Posting a movie-trailer-style video of 20 heavily marmed goons arresting an unarmed dude for throwing a sandwich doesn't feel like the actions of a regime confident in its public support

Don’t let this die. Keep elevating this.

“Through its aesthetics, the show is grounded in reality; and through its messaging, it portrays a vision of how urban life can be. It’s a block where residents of all backgrounds and varying income levels exist together harmoniously and where local businesses thrive.”

This is a huge deal in Chicago, well-explained by @jake-sheridan.bsky.social Parking space minimums eliminated in much of Chicago, change aimed at adding housing density www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/28/p...

@kumar.fyi and I spotted the book we contributed 11 pages to (along Cathy Cohen) out in the world...at the local feminist book store of course.

No sentient human could possibly believe that Trump wanting to fire Powell really has anything at all to do with some explainable building cost overruns that Powell has little to do with - and that roughly equal the 4-year projected cost of Trump's taxpayer-funded golf outings

Kinda struggling with words. How can a human being justify a policy of mass murder and mass starvation in Gaza? This is unbearable.

Every day this week and next I leave campus and go to a community space to work with teachers who want to learn about the past to push for justice today. That is closer to the mission of the academy as I choose to know it than anything in the news.

A complete and total capitulation of an institution, a brand, the commitment to free speech, academic freedom, and dignity. This is unimaginably terrible. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/n...

Gen Z, “the most conservative generation in 50-60 years,” down to Trump -44 CBS News Poll:

This is a disappointing article from the @chicagotribune.com @jake-sheridan.bsky.social leaving out the social context of e vs w of Broadway, the fact that proponents outnumbered opponents 2-1 in plan commission comments, and letting obvious lies go uncorrected www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/20/p...

Also, just…it is the summer of 2025, and the crisis that a bunch of self-described progressives in an immigrant-heavy blue city neighborhood are volunteering 100s or even 1000s of hours collectively to fight is…preventing seven story buildings with affordable housing

This is exactly the point @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social and I have been making. The Democratic Party's problem isn't too much turnout, it's too little. The path forward isn't chasing the center, but mobilizing the base and disaffected voters with compelling candidates who stand for something.

Forty Acres and a Mule: Symbolic Politics and the Pursuit for Black Reparations in the United States @mattnelsen.bsky.social, Ph.D. candidate Monique Newton, & @asdurso.bsky.social via @poppublicsphere.bsky.social doi.org/10.1017/S153... #NUResearch #polisky

250 people detained in the Florida Everglades have no criminal convictions or pending charges.

Most people in Mexico and Canada say the United States is their country's greatest threat www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/...

NOW OUT ON FIRSTVIEW!! Forty Acres and a Mule: Symbolic Politics & the Pursuit for Black Reparations in the United States By Matthew D. Nelsen, Monique Newton & @asdurso.bsky.social doi.org/10.1017/S153...

This is the google trend for "forty acres and a mule" over the past yr, peaking in Feb 2025, presumably from Kendrick Lamar's Halftime show. But who were the types ppl googling this phrase? Likely those unfamiliar. Our paper delvs into knowledge of & support for reparations-related policies.

I’m excited to share that “Forty Acres and a Mule: Symbolic Politics and the Pursuit for Black Reparations in the United States” (co-authored with Monique Newton and @asdurso.bsky.social )‬ is now available #OpenAccess at @poppublicsphere.bsky.social @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org (1/12)

#OpenAccess from @poppublicsphere.bsky.social - Forty Acres and a Mule: Symbolic Politics and the Pursuit for Black Reparations in the United States - cup.org/44VXgLC - @mattnelsen.bsky.social, Monique Newton & @asdurso.bsky.social #FirstView

A concise and well-explained summary of our recent APSR paper on PID among Asian Americans and Latinos, via APSA’s Political Science Now… politicalsciencenow.com/the-identity...

Prague has the shortest pedestrian walk sign period I’ve ever experienced and I highly suspect a gay man was involved. IYKYK

Absolutely incredible turnout for Budapest Pride! So proud of all the organizers, including some old friends, who estimate hundreds of thousands— major embarrassment to Orban

Sometimes it feels like all we are doing at Bolts this year is covering the assault on direct democracy, state after state. But we’ll keep shedding light each time on what’s going on—how it changes the game, & who’s doing what about it. (That’s why you can count on us.) Just lately, 🧵:

Ted Cruz equating himself to Luke Skywalker oddly just reminds me of his performance in the 1992 Harvard Law School production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.

Contributing to the  lit on where to place moderators in an experiment (shoutouts 🧵), @tabithabonilla.bsky.social, Genni and I consider whether items measuring prejudice are subject to unique considerations. Does asking these questions pre-treatment affect the experiment? @psrm.bsky.social

Lurking under the surface of the 6–3 majority is a split over how to evaluate laws that indisputably discriminate against transgender people. Barrett, Thomas, and Alito say that anti-trans discrimination is not subject to heightened scrutiny. Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Gorsuch don't say either way.

“A U.S. citizen!” And now he’s missing. Adrian Martinez tried to defend a man ICE was harassing. Video shows six agents swarming him. He struggles but doesn’t lay hands on them. They take him to the ground & shove him into a CBP vehicle. Abuse of power. Keep recording. Don’t stop. (1 of 2)

Today is publication day for Liberation Stories. Cathy Cohen, @kumar.fyi, and I contributed a chapter to this volume: “Data for Liberation: the Role of Surveys in Social Movement Infrastructure.” (1/6)

Updated poster

In Huntington Beach, advocates for public libraries championed two ballot measures to counter policies by the conservative city council. The measures both passed Tuesday—one ends a book review board, the other bars the privatization of local libraries. www.sfgate.com/polit...