What Is the 'Working Class'?
When even most upper-income Republicans say they're working class, the term has become meaningless.
Political Science
Republican Voters Got More Socially Liberal Under Trump
Liberals spent the last decade moving leftward on questions of race and sexual orientation—and so did conservatives.
How Inflation Breaks Our Brains
From salt riots to toilet paper runs, history shows that rising prices make consumers—and voters—grumpy and irrational.
What James C. Scott Taught Us About Liberty, Authority, Surveillance, and Resistance
Scott wrote about the ways people resist authority—and the unmapped territories where much of that resistance takes place.
The F-Word and Its Consequences
In a new book, left-wing writers debate whether America is going fascist.
The Truth About 'Rural Rage'
Our research was cited in a new book on “white rural rage.” But the authors got the research wrong.
Studies Keep Finding That Social Media Algorithms Don't Increase Polarization. Why Is the Press So Skeptical?
New research on Facebook before the 2020 election finds scant evidence to suggest algorithms are shifting our political views.
The Left-Right Spectrum Is Mostly Meaningless
The political landscape doesn’t fit on a simple map.
This Just In: Conspiracy Theorists Not Quite as Kooky as Previously Reported
Greetings from the second International Conspiracy Theory Symposium, where one of the most cited findings in the field has been debunked.
U.S. Headlines Expressing Anger, Fear, Disgust, and Sadness Increased Hugely Since 2000
Meanwhile more and more Americans say that they are avoiding news coverage.
Social Media Interaction Does Not Improve Political Knowledge, but It Does Polarize Us
Two new studies say there's no evidence of political learning on social media, but it does increasingly teach us to hate our opponents.
America's Biggest Political Division Isn't Left vs. Right
It's the superpolitical vs. everyone else.
Let's Play Horseshoe Theory
Extremists on the left and the right are much closer to each other than either side would like to admit.
To Avoid More Political Violence, Allow Americans To Escape Each Other's Control
Let people join with the like-minded to reject officials and laws that don’t suit them and to construct systems that do.
Professor Elinor 'Lin' Ostrom
Ostrom was best known for her studies of how local groups manage natural resources.
Trump Gets None of His Demands in the Spending Bill but Signs It Into Law Anyway
Plus: Europeans are just as inclined toward "conspiracy thinking" as Americans, D.C. decriminalizes "drug paraphernalia," and more...
Morris P. Fiorina: Why 'Electoral Chaos' Is Here To Stay
Whether Trump or Biden wins, the Stanford political scientist says "unstable majorities" will persist in the coming decade.
Trump Urges Floridians To Vote by Mail While Suing Over Remote Voting in Nevada
Plus: Tuesday primary results, TikTok may move to London, polls show growing distrust in media, and more...
Facts Still Matter, but They Don't Change Many Voters' Minds
Fact-checking reduced voter misperceptions but had no discernible effects on their candidate preferences.
There's Nothing New About the 'New Conspiracism'
A pair of political scientists think they've identified a new kind of conspiracy thinking. They haven't.
Reconstructing American Politics
Trump, Failed Political Regimes, and the Illiberal Politics of the Future
'Fairness' Outweighs Objective Data When Americans Evaluate Risks
New study explains why I can't convince people that terrorism is not worth worrying much about.
A Polarized America? Not Quite
Independents now make up a plurality of the public.
When an Echo Chamber Gets Worked Up About Echo Chambers
Researchers cast more doubt on the "filter bubble" narrative.
Surprise: Voters Aren't More Polarized than Ever, Only Pols and Media Are
Stanford political scientist Morris Fiorina says it's media and political elites who live in ideological bubbles, not regular Americans.
Statist Just-So Stories
The author of Seeing Like a State casts a skeptical eye on the conventional wisdom about the cradle of civilization.
Did 15 Years of War Win the Presidency for Donald Trump?
Or is partisanship such a strong indicator of voter choice that the specifics of a candidate's stances might not matter?
Revolutionary Mice and Repressive Cats
Dissident movements learn from one another; so do the regimes they protest.
How Crony Capitalism Works
Higher political contributions equals more government contracts on even better terms
Bugs Bunny, Bobby Hill, and George Costanza Explain Politics
The customized Political Compass was the meme of the year.
'The Basket of Deplorables' and Political Science: New at Reason
Donald Trump stands out in particular as the populist par excellence, say political scientists
Trump, Political Science, and the 'Basket of Deplorables'
How a billionaire rode a rising tide of populism to the White House.
Does Political Extremism Pay or Penalize Presidential Candidates? New at Reason
Political science says that normally Clinton should lose, but Crazy Trump may up end model predictions
How Political Extremism Sways Presidential Elections and Public Policy
Models of American electoral behavior suggest that Clinton should lose, but worries about extremism may Trump
No, Independents Aren't Just a Bunch of 'Closet Partisans'
A new paper throws cold water on a poli-sci cliché.
Against Democracy and Elitism
The people's best political framework is neither democracy nor epistocracy but original liberalism, or what we today call libertarianism.
The Political Class May Be Polarized, But That Doesn't Mean the Rest of America Is Too
The myth of the Red/Blue nation
Voter ID Fraud and Rigged Elections: New at Reason
Trump is right: One party is trying to rig the election
Biased Policing and Black Dignity: New at Reason
New studies show that increasing police stops and searches of black male drivers is completely unjustified
Black Dignity Matters
Research shows that police do subject African Americans to much greater unwarranted scrutiny and harsher treatment
The Demise of the Republican Party, and Duverger's Law
Melding socially liberal businesspeople, non-warmongering Democrats, and avowed libertarians into a new party
In the Age of Trump, Republicans Are In for a Reckoning—Or a Realignment
Breaking and remaking the party system
Nobel Peace Prize: In Tunisia Alone Is the "Arab Spring" Still Green
Here's hoping that the award will help safeguard Tunisia's nascent democracy.
The Great Bob Dylan Conspiracy
A new book sheds light on the singer-songwriter's evangelical years.
Voter ID, Suppression Fail
If voter ID laws were created to suppress minority voting, they're actually not doing that.
A Frustrated President Wants But Doesn't Expect New Gun Controls
Why the Charleston church massacre isn't likely to lead to stricter gun laws
