“Cognitive Madisonians” and Congressional Approval
Declining approval of Congress is a popular topic these days (note: low Congressional approval is always popular, just more so recently). The importance of this issue was aptly described in 1974… Read More
Obama’s Birth Certificate: Diminishing Marginal Utility and Finite Agenda Space
I posted this on Seth Masket’s facebook page a moment ago (see his blog here). Seth asked why Obama released his birth certificate now when there is presumably an electoral incentive to… Read More
America Still hates Congress…but not always.
Jonathan Bernstein and Ezra Klein have a couple posts on Congress’s terrible approval ratings. Both make good points. Klein points out: …the issue isn’t individuals so much as… Read More
Analyzing the Survival of Party Chairmen: “It’s Not You, It’s Us”
As you know, Michael Steele was deposed as chairman of the RNC a few short weeks ago in favor of the whimsically-named Reince Priebus. In addition to his numerous public… Read More
“The Lens of Deep Suspicion.” Why Americans disapprove of Congress.
Most Americans disapprove of Congress and have for a long time. However, today Congress matched its historic best in disappointing US citizens. Gallup released a poll today showing that… Read More
Proposition 19: A “Moment of Clarity?”
Josh and I thought we would collaborate for a post on one of this election’s direct democracy initiatives in California, Proposition 19. He and I, along with Dan Smith,… Read More
Financial Independence and Roll-Call Behavior
Yesterday, The Monkey Cage posted this article exploring the relationship between lawmakers’ personal wealth and their preference regarding the estate tax. Based on their analysis of the 109th… Read More
Grading Presidential Rhetoric using Readability Software
If you were a junior high or high school teacher interested in assigning presidential speeches for your American Government class, which presidential speeches would you assign and to whom? My… Read More
College Football, Politics, and “Irrationality”
I thought I’d pick up on a comment Jordan offered in his last post. Other than being a nice piece, this research on college football’s relevance to politics highlights an… Read More
Two of my Favorite Things: College Football and Politics
This week, ESPN and other sports news outlets carried an AP story which contained some actual political science. The original AP story summarized a study by Healy,… Read More