Remaining Nonpartisan when Democracy is Under Threat
Tips for talking, writing, and teaching about partisan threats to democracy in a non-partisan way. In my alumni magazine, the Swarthmore College Bulletin. 2022.
Sustaining Joy and Inspiration in the Scholarly Vocation
“Why am I doing this?” is an important question for people to continually reflect on as they consider graduate school, progress towards their degree, and advance through their years as a scholar. In this essay, we suggest that the answer to ‘why you’re doing this’ is grounded in a vocational practice that embraces the creativity, independence, and unique public contributions that are possible as an academic political scientist. In the APSA publication Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond. With Yuna Blajer de la Garza and Sarah Shugars. 2022.
LGBT Voters on Super Tuesday
For the first time ever in 2020, exit polls for the Super Tuesday presidential primary contests included a question about sexual orientation and gender identity, making possible a rare in-depth examination of LGBT Democratic primary voters’ preferred candidates and policy preferences. I co-authored this writeup of the results for NBC News in my role as an elections analyst for the network’s exit poll desk. With Tim Fitzsimons. 2020.
Contributions to the Monkey Cage Blog at the Washington Post
My writing on topics including public opinion, elections, the environment, immigration, and LGBTQ rights as an occasional contributor to The Monkey Cage, 2014-2017.
Lulled into Complacency by Nice Weather
In this New York Times op-ed, Megan Mullin and I discuss our research published in Nature showing that U.S. weather has become more pleasant in the era of global warming — and by the time it becomes worse, it may be too late. 2016.
Local Weather and Climate Concern
Megan Mullin and I discussed findings on how local temperature variation affects global warming attitudes in an invited contribution to Nature Climate Change. 2014.
Discrepancies Between Polls and Marriage Referenda Results
Findings from a Decade of Polling on Ballot Measures Regarding the Legal Status of Same-Sex Couples. Commissioned by the Freedom to Marry initiative. 2010.
Reducing LGBT Inequality in the Age of Obama
Identifying policy goals within reach for the LGBT movement. In Pathways Magazine (published by the Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality). 2010.
Term Limits for Municipal Elected Officials
A report I was commissioned to write by the New York City Charter Revision Commission. 2010.
California’s Proposition 8
Understanding the vote on the same-sex marriage ban passed by California’s voters in 2008. Co-authored with Kenneth Sherrill. 2009.
Issue Ownership, the Democrats, and Afghanistan
The politics of Obama’s Afghanistan troop surge. Co-authored with Josh Tucker in The New Republic, 2009.
Court Decisions and Trends in Support for Same-Sex Marriage
Extrapolating from public opinion trends, Nathaniel Persily and I predicted in 2009 that a majority of Americans would support the right to same-sex marriage by 2014. We were too pessimistic. In The Polling Report.
Bloomberg’s Limited Win
Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s successful extension of New York City term limits in 2008 had its limits. In this New York Times op-ed, I argued that the change actually boosted the institutional power of City Council to act as a democratic check on executive power.
A First-Ever Political Survey of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals with a Probability-Based Sample
Findings from the Hunter College Poll of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals: New discoveries about identity, political attitudes, and civic engagement. With Murray S. Edelman and Kenneth Sherrill. 2008.
Asking about Sexual Orientation on the ANES
A successful proposal to the American National Election Studies (ANES) I co-authored with Randall Sell and Kenneth Sherrill in 2007 that led to the study’s inclusion of a question about respondents’ identification as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) for the first time. The item has appeared on every wave of the study since 2008.
Neither an In-Law Nor Outlaw Be
Over-time trends in Americans’ attitudes toward gay people. With Kenneth Sherrill. (Public Opinion Pros, February 2005.)