Americans say they want less inequality. Why don’t they support policies to reduce it? New paper: across 31 nationally representative survey waves (N=384,248) and a preregistered experiment (N=1,009), Americans favor PREdistributive over REdistributive policies 🧵 osf.io/preprints/so...

"Book challenges across the country have increased in recent years. The American Library Association reported 2025 as the second-highest year for book challenges recorded by the organization, with 92% coming from government officials or special interest groups." radio.kttz.org/2026-07-10/b...

Book bans take center stage at Lubbock ISD budget meeting, Sen. Perry says state law revisions may be needed

Lubbock ISD’s school library advisory council first met in November to review books flagged as potentially inappropriate to be on the shelves, in compliance with state law. Lubbock-area state senator ...

radio.kttz.org

NEW 🧵: We mapped our 2024 presidential election data by congressional district for the 2026 map. Due to new GOP gerrymanders, the median seat went from AZ-01 at Trump+3.1 on the 2024 map to VA-01 at Trump+4.9, 3.5 points to the right of the country. Trump won a 235-200 majority, up by 5 from 2024

The Downballot@the-downballot.com · 4w ago

Folks, a *very* exciting announcement: The Downballot has just published updated 2024 presidential results by congressional district for every state with a new map this year! That's 10 states in all, covering a full one-third of the House. Please dive in!

Parked but not idle: The buses “will charge up their nearly 200-kilowatt-hour batteries overnight, when the power supply is at its cleanest & cheapest, then send energy back to the grid from 4 pm to 7 pm on days when the grid is strained. The district will earn revenue for the power it shares…”

In Massachusetts, parked EVs will start feeding the grid this summer

Three electric school buses will kick-start the state’s groundbreaking vehicle-to-grid pilot program once school's out, with more EVs to be added in the…

canarymedia.com

This was truly one of the best - and best organized! - conferences I’ve ever attended. What a truly impressive start! (With huge thanks to everyone who made it happen, especially the organizers.)

Sara Hobolt@sarahobolt.bsky.social · 2mo ago

What a wonderful few days in Belfast for #EPSS2026 and what a fantastic community! Thank you to everyone who joined the conference with such enthusiasm A special thanks to @simonhix.bsky.social @kenbenoit.bsky.social @macartan.bsky.social & the rest of the EPSS Council for making it all possible

Climate.us is officially live! After NOAA ended Climate.gov’s day-to-day operations in 2025, former team members built Climate.us to carry that work forward. Their explanations and graphics have always stood out to me as clear, accessible, and transparent. I’m really looking forward to this reboot.

Climate.us Home

independent, nonprofit, and immune to politics

climate.us

A new Gallup poll found Americans associate the American Dream with freedom, financial security and success. But more Americans say they feel financially worse off than before, while even more are worried about finding or keeping a job. https://wapo.st/4ezfUga

'When solar and wind power are combined with battery storage, they can undercut new gas power, challenging one of the fossil fuel industry’s arguments against renewables: that they cannot provide 24/7 electricity when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.' www.euronews.com/2026/05/08/r...

Why batteries are changing the renewables debate

The cost of battery storage has dropped more than 90 per cent since 2010, bringing the cost of renewable energy down with it.

euronews.com

A Wall Street Journal poll finds that even the wealthiest worry about financial security for themselves and their children. on.wsj.com/4w1TriV

Even wealthy Americans say the political and economic systems are stacked against them

A Wall Street Journal poll finds that even the wealthiest worry about financial security for themselves and their children.

on.wsj.com

Honestly… it’s a cultural experience. 😅 Especially when it comes to customer service.

We have created a Bluesky account for the WhoGov project, which we will use for updates, sharing research on political elites, & data visualizations. We are working on many new projects, including a new webpage (will be launched in July), gathering more data, a R-package, and we even got a new logo

The WhoGov Project@whogov.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We are happy to release Version 4 of WhoGov, which expands WhoGov to 2025. It now contains data on cabinet members from 1966-2025. The update is supported by UiO:Democracy and can be downloaded through GETGOV's page or through Nuffield College: politicscentre.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/whogov-datas.... 1/2

Adults on Medicaid will be required to work 80 hours per month. The Trump administration says people who are sick will have to prove they are too sick to work to be exempt from the new work rules. n.pr/3RK4U7X

People with cancer or HIV could lose Medicaid under new work rules, advocates say

Adults on Medicaid will be required to work 80 hours per month. The Trump administration says people who are sick will have to prove they are too sick to work to be exempt from the new work rules.

n.pr

💻 #BigTech consumes massive amounts of energy & water. IIPP Professor @ceciliarikap.bsky.social & @silviaweko.bsky.social explore how Google & Amazon are positioning themselves to control ecological transition paths for their purposes. ✍️ Read their paper here: buff.ly/IPwShlQ

Introducing Dr. Noah Pruitt (@noahpruitt99.bsky.social)! I am incredibly proud of you, and I look forward to everything you will accomplish. Sincere thanks to a wonderful and supportive committee. (@fthames.bsky.social, Sayan Banerjee, and Austin McCrea)

A survey of Midwestern lenders showed repayment rates are down while demand for loans was rising. on.wsj.com/4nWdSLq

American farmers are taking out more debt—and some are struggling to keep up with repayments—as they contend with higher costs tied to the Iran war

A survey of Midwestern lenders showed repayment rates are down while demand for loans was rising.

on.wsj.com

File under: stressful academic emails. (I’m not sure why Toronto decided that I should receive an email about teaching Canadian politics, but, even if it applied, the Spring semester literally JUST wrapped up. 😳)

“It’s just frustrating to see them come into our community and run all over us like the citizens don’t matter, and then they’re above the law when they do break it,” resident, James Clifton said. www.politico.com/news/2026/05...

A data center drained 30M gallons of water unnoticed — until residents complained about low water pressure

Residents in Fayetteville, Georgia, noticed low water pressure last year. The utility discovered two unaccounted-for water connections at one of the nation’s largest data center campuses.

politico.com

"All 22 members of the advisory board that advises and oversees the US National Science Foundation (NSF), a leading funder of basic science, were fired on 24 April without explanation." www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Entire NSF science advisory board fired by Trump administration

Members of the National Science Board, which the US Congress founded in 1950, were given no explanation for their termination.

nature.com

Given the persistent disruptions from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, @cronco.bsky.social and I have written a substack article about how Europe’s fossil fuel dependence is now as much about macroeconomic resilience as climate. A 🧵. #Iran #Inflation #Energy open.substack.com/pub/outsampl...

The Iran War, Energy Price Shocks, and the Green Transition

The Iran War and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz strengthens the economic case for accelerating decarbonisation and reducing exposure to fossil fuels.

open.substack.com

… www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Bulgaria’s former president claims ‘victory’ after projections show him winning parliamentary elections

Rumen Radev – an EU critic who has called for renewing ties with Russia - looked set to top the polls in the country’s eighth election in five years

theguardian.com

Why I don't expect liberal democracy to go away any time soon: My article on the resilience of liberal democracy, published in @jeppjournal.bsky.social. Perfectly timed to the day after Orbáns defeat and a small spike in "democracy-optimism". There are, I argue, good reasons for such optimism.

Party ID “explains far more variation in elite climate beliefs than ideology, trust in science, or broader conspiratorial predispositions.”

Zander Furnas@alexanderfurnas.com · 4mo ago

I've got a new paper out today with @timlapira.bsky.social and @salilb.bsky.social in ERC showing that party ID strongly structures political elites' beliefs about climate change. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a nationwide alert late last year to law enforcement agencies: Harassment of judges has surged, and the trend is likely to continue. The New York Times has identified thousands of threats targeting state judges in the past three years alone.

State Judges Turn to Guns in New Era of Judicial Threats

A Times examination reveals thousands of threats against state judges, in addition to assaults and fatal attacks. Judges say local law enforcement agencies often can’t offer adequate protection.

nyti.ms

New in @science.org ‼️ In the most comprehensive study to date, we show that wildlife trade is driving animal-to-human zoonotic spillover at a planetary scale, with +1 spillover per host every 10 years. Live animal markets and illegal trade pose even greater risks. 🔓 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Thrilled that my paper (w/@sarahobolt.bsky.social,@catherinedevries.bsky.social,@simonecremaschi.bsky.social) was accepted at the American Political Science Review! We find that declining public services fuel support for the populist right — and show why the right benefits more than other parties 🧵

A fascinating thread. (Also fantastic if you are teaching research design.)

Michael Clemens@mclem.org · 4mo ago

The US Administration is implementing its $100,000 tax on entry by high-skill foreign workers. It's by far the largest tariff on services trade in history. A single document has emerged to make the Administration's economic case for the tax. Incredibly, it is packed with basic, large errors. 🧵—>

More than 10,000 veterans lost their homes to foreclosure since May of last year, when the Trump admin shut down a key safety net in the VA home loan program, according to the latest industry data. That is the highest pace of foreclosures for VA loans in a decade.

Trump's VA killed a home loan program. Vets are now losing their homes because of it

Foreclosures on VA loans are at their highest level in a decade. VA has a fix but it is months away and could still leave vets worse off than most other homeowners.

npr.org

It is out! We find that linked fate (or lack thereof) helps explain 2024 Trump support in young Latinos. @mattlamb.bsky.social @landgravephd.bsky.social spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

SPSSI Journals

Latinos have moved politically right in the last few years in United States elections, with the percentage of Latinos supporting the Republican presidential candidate at an all-time high in the 2024 ...

spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Melissa Baker@melissabaker.bsky.social · 7mo ago

First paper acceptance of 2026!

Do the clothes make the candidate? In my paper with Steven Perry, we find candidates who dress more formally were perceived as more politically sophisticated, & indirectly had increased support. The text complexity of candidate messages had no effect. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

My @nytopinion.nytimes.com piece discusses the failures of Trump's strategy to create manufacturing jobs--but puts it in the broader context of the previous failures to achieve this goal and why it isn't the right goal to start with. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/o...

Opinion | Every President Tries It. It Never Works.

nytimes.com