Political Science News

August 20, 2016

Is Your Political Ideology in Your Head?

Presidential Candidates Speak at Grade 6-8 Level

Conservatives and Liberals Do Think Differently

Environmental Activism Works

Latest Headlines

updated 11:34am EDT

Brazil's Environmental Licensing Under Threat, Suggests New Article

Aug. 18, 2016 — A new article explains how the country's environmental licensing is under threat from proposed laws and constitutional amendments. These have jumped into the forefront as anti-environment politicians ... read more

Rationing Healthcare: More Than Half of US Doctors Say No to Clinical Services

July 20, 2016 — More than half of US physicians included in a national survey have withheld certain medical interventions with small benefits from their patients ... read more

Why Clinton and Trump Backers Don't Mix

July 8, 2016 — Living around people with opposing political viewpoints affects your ability to form close relationships and accept other perspectives -- and may even change your personality, finds an American ... read more

Political Pitfalls in Handling Ebola May Carry Over to Zika

June 27, 2016 — If the United States responds to Zika the way it did to Ebola—and early indications are that in many ways it is—the country can expect missteps brought about by a lack of health care coordination ... read more

In All US Regions, Broad Support for Increasing Legal Age of Tobacco Sales

June 1, 2016 — In all nine regions of the country, a majority of adults supported increasing the minimum legal age for tobacco product sales, a new research study ... read more

Tax on Plug-in Vehicles Is Not Answer to Road-Funding Woes, Study Shows

May 27, 2016 — Given declining revenues from gasoline and diesel fuel taxes and the need for new ways of funding road infrastructure, state and federal policymakers are considering or have enacted annual ... read more

How Will the Next Leader of WHO Tackle Future Health Emergencies?

May 18, 2016 — In light of heavy criticism of the World Health Organization's handling of the Ebola outbreak, the election process for the next director general will be under intense scrutiny, say experts in a new ... read more

Canada's Plans to Legalize Marijuana Contravene UN's International Conventions, Say Experts

May 16, 2016 — The Canadian government's plan to legalize marijuana contravenes its current legal obligations to the United Nation's international drug-control ... read more

Panic-Proofing, Not Preventing Bubbles, Should Be Focus of U. S. Financial Policy

May 9, 2016 — Complicated new regulations added to complicated old regulations won’t protect the United States’ financial system from frightening crashes like ... read more

Strengths and Weaknesses of Global Health Networks

Apr. 26, 2016 — Tuberculosis, childhood pneumonia, maternal death in childbirth, tobacco-related illnesses: how do global health networks select issues and seek to address these public health challenges that affect ... read more

Reminder: Your Electronic Voting Machine Is Super Hackable

As Zika Looms, Health Officials Eye Neighbors

WHO Committee Says Low Risk of Zika Spread from Olympics

Biden Promotes Open-Data for Cancer Research

Hey, Tall Guy! What's the Politics Like Up There?

Aug. 16, 2016 — If you want to predict which political party someone will support, take note of the person's height. The taller a person is, the more likely he or she is to support conservative political ... read more

Adaptation to Climate Risks: Political Affiliation Matters

Aug. 4, 2016 — A new study reveals that those who affiliate with the Democratic Party have different views than those who vote Republican on the following issues: the likelihood of floods occurring, adopting ... read more

Aging Can Drive Progress, Say Scientists

July 25, 2016 — Twenty years from now, the number of retired persons worldwide will have grown by 600 million, almost double the current number. Life expectancy will have increased, bringing new economic challenges. ... read more

Reading Harry Potter Lowers Americans' Opinions of Donald Trump, Study Finds

July 20, 2016 — Can Harry Potter defeat Donald Trump? A new study has found that Americans who read Harry Potter books hold a lower opinion of Donald Trump, even after controlling for many factors like party, ... read more

Study Shows Stark Differences in How Conservatives, Liberals Value Empirical Data

July 13, 2016 — A new study surveyed participants in the Deep South and West Coast on the opportunity to view novel data on three topics - two of which were political - but weren't told of the results or who ... read more

Religiosity Diminishes Conservative Opposition to Eco-Friendly Buying

July 12, 2016 — Evidence has been found that religious identification and belief in a god dampen the otherwise strong negative effect that political conservatism typically has on whether people make purchasing ... read more

Boredom Can Lead to More Extreme Political Views, Researchers Find

July 7, 2016 — Boredom may be contributing to a widening of political views among voters, according to a new study. The findings are based on one experiment and two scientific surveys carried out in the Republic of ... read more

New Study on State Medicaid Provision, Federal Subsidization

July 6, 2016 — The U.S. federal government matches every state at least $1 for each $1 that the state spends on Medicaid. A new study measured the effect of the subsidy by constructing a multi-regional, ... read more

Report Points to Racial Disparities in Most Forms of Political Participation in California

June 30, 2016 — Latinos and Asian Americans are the least likely to have a say in California's politics, during election cycles and year round. That is one of the key findings of a new report by Advancement ... read more

Lawmakers Might Introduce 'Anti-Evolution' Legislation to Appease Religious Constituents

June 20, 2016 — 'Anti-evolution' education legislation continues to be introduced because lawmakers want to appease religious constituents, not because they expect the bills to be made into laws, new ... read more

A Conservative Environment Makes Conservatives Happier

June 8, 2016 — Various psychological studies have suggested that conservatives are happier than liberals. However, these studies tend to focus exclusively on the United States. Does a correlation between ... read more

Researchers Mine Twitter to Reveal Congress' Ideological Divide on Climate Change

June 2, 2016 — Senate Democrats are three times more likely to follow science-related Twitter accounts than their Republican peers, according to a new study. The research shows the growing divide between parties on ... read more

Politics, Not Ignorance, May Pollute Support for Pro-Science Solutions

June 1, 2016 — Mentioning politics in a message about an environmental issue may turn people -- even people informed about the issue -- away from supporting a pro-science solution, according to a team of ... read more

Charismatic Speaking Strategies of Presidential Candidates

May 25, 2016 — Researchers have recently examined the speech patterns of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina in a variety of settings to determine whether the presidential candidates ... read more

No, Presidential Candidates Don't Usually Dodge Tough Questions

May 16, 2016 — Nearly everybody thinks that presidential candidates routinely dodge hard-hitting questions, providing evasive answers to simple questions. But a new study that analyzed the full transcripts of 14 US ... read more

Political Lobbying, Connections May Help Airlines Profits Take Off

May 10, 2016 — Government lobbying and political connections may add lift to the air transportation industry's profitability, but they could also cause a crash in talented transportation administrators, ... read more

Opinions on Fracking Linked to Political Persuasion, Says New Study

May 9, 2016 — A person's opinion on fracking can be predicted by their political ideology, according to a new study. The researchers found that politically conservative people are more likely to be in favour ... read more

Delayed Onset Adulthood Keeps Young Brits Away from Ballot Box

May 3, 2016 — The poor voter turnout of young Brits can be explained by the delayed transition to adulthood, says new research. Research shows that if today's young adults were as 'mature' as young ... read more

Polarization May Cause Climate Communication to Backfire

Apr. 27, 2016 — Political polarization may cause communication about climate change to backfire, a new study finds. Even efforts that frame climate change around seemingly win-win issues such as economic growth or ... read more

Framing Discourse Around Conservative Values Shifts Climate Change Attitudes

Apr. 25, 2016 — Conservatives' attitudes toward climate change and other environmental concerns shift when the issues are reframed in terms more closely aligned with their values, a new study ... read more

Tuesday, August 16, 2016