It’s easy to preach about the importance of energy conservation. But are people in the left really willing to sacrifice personal comfort in the name of environmental protection? Newly published research focusing on electricity usage suggests the answer is yes. Two UCLA economists report that, in the area served by an unnamed utility in the Western United States, households headed by registered Democrats use less electricity than those headed by registered Republicans. This holds true after factoring in variables such as climate, the price of electricity, and the size and age of the ... Read More
Fiscal Cliff Round-Up
November 28, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
John Dickerson has a fine piece up at Slate that separates the signal from the noise on the “Fiscal Cliff”. He points out that nothing Saxby Chambliss or any other Senator or White House official says means much, and that House Republicans are the only voice that matters right now. Obama has previously offered to make spending changes to Social Security and Medicare and has more recently made a very concrete revenue offer: Let the Bush tax cuts expire for the wealthiest Americans. So it might be safe to say that the only question is whether House Republicans will give on this revenue ... Read More
Republicans Like Candidates Who Look Republican
January 10, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Will the Republican who wins the New Hampshire primary be the candidate with the most money, the best message, or … the most Republican mug? While no scientifically proven criteria exists for what makes a politician look like a Republican, plenty of people seem to think they can spot a party affiliation on a candidate’s face. Maybe it’s something in the eyebrows, or the cheekbones, or the cast of a jaw line (or insert your humorous observation here). Whatever it is people are responding to, new research suggests that looking like a Republican may help politicians win over Republican ... Read More
Calculating an End to Divisive Politics
December 27, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Much scholarly research never suggests a clear practical application for the public good. You can't say that about the work of Steven J. Brams, professor of politics at New York University. He seems to have an angle on everything. True to form, he has advice that could help detoxify national politics and pull the agenda from the grip of political extremists … and a better way to elect candidates in a political primary where there seems to be no clearly superior choice ... and how to pick a special congressional committee when important work needs to be done on divisive issues. Born in ... Read More
Brams: Let Congress Select Super Committees
December 27, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Following the failure of the budgetary super committee to come to an agreement in the fall, members of Congress admitted to being ashamed of the institution and the implacable partisanship that stymies it. As part of the deal to raise the debt ceiling, the 12-member super committee of six Democrats and six Republicans from both houses of Congress set about trying to identify $1.5 trillion in budgets cuts for the next 10 years. Compromise had little chance, even though failure to compromise triggers $1.2 trillion in across-the-board budget cuts — an outcome few in either party publicly ... Read More
Why a Democracy Needs Uninformed People
December 15, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Uninformed people catch a lot of flak in society, whether they’re sitting on decision-making committees, choosing a new PTA president, or voting in a national election. Political commentators often daydream of a fully engaged and 100 percent knowledgeable electorate. New research, though, suggests these know-nothings may be more vital to democracy than anyone has given them credit for. Researchers at Princeton have discovered that the least informed among us may have a crucial role in tempering the most opinionated minorities. Surprisingly, they started off by studying fish. Iain ... Read More
Crafting Policy to Bridge the Red-Blue Divide
December 12, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Mississippi Republican Trent Lott recently recalled the Washington he moved to as a House aide in 1968: members of both parties would gather on Thursday evenings to play gin rummy, sip bourbon, and smoke cigars. “They knew each other,” he said. “They respected each other.” Three decades later — when he and South Dakota Democrat Tom Daschle traded Senate leadership as their parties traded majorities — each repeatedly would ask the other: “Is there a way we can get this done together?” Senators were highly partisan and had deep philosophical disagreements, he said. “It ... Read More
Will Hispanics Take Over American Politics?
April 19, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
The rapid growth in the U.S. Hispanic population over the last 40 years — both in terms of raw numbers and percentage of the population — is probably the most important emergent force in American politics today. The evidence is around us: In 2008, each party conducted an entire presidential primary debate in Spanish. In 2009, the first Hispanic judge, Sonia Sotomayor, was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. And in 2010, for the first time ever in a single election, three Hispanic candidates won top statewide offices: Republican Brian Sandoval became Nevada's first Hispanic governor; ... Read More
Cleanliness Cues Activate Conservative Attitudes
April 4, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
They may not know it, but Republicans have a secret weapon in their attempt to convince Americans of the correctness of their cause: hand sanitizers. Such commonplace reminders of the concept of physical cleanliness can influence moral and political attitudes. That’s the conclusion of Cornell University psychologists Erik Helzer and David Pizarro, who report this effect is particularly strong in the arena of sexual morality. Their study, just published in the journal Psychological Science, brings together three interesting threads of recent psychological research: 1. The notion that ... Read More
Wording Change Softens Global Warming Skeptics
March 2, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Are you convinced climate change is real? What about global warming? Yes, that second question is redundant. But new research finds the two labels, which are widely used interchangeably, evoke remarkably different responses among self-described Republicans. Writing in the journal Public Opinion Quarterly, a research team led by University of Michigan psychologist Jonathon Schuldt reports Republicans are far more skeptical of “global warming” than of “climate change.” In an experiment conducted as part of a large survey, the researchers found 44 percent of Republicans endorsed the ... Read More
