My coauthored article with Eugenia Artabe, "Using Large Language Models to Measure the Ideology of Supreme Court Justices," is now available in the Journal of Law and Empirical Analysis. doi.org/10.1177/2755...

The debate over DHS funding is ongoing. How has opinion shifted on this topic in recent years? In POQ, Ollerenshaw & Jardina find that opposition to federal spending on border security has dramatically increased among Democrats. Read more: doi.org/10.1093/poq/...

Legislators Are Raising Money Instead of Making Policy By rewarding fundraising, parties miss out on diverse leaders & effective legislators. But states that reform make more policy. New #ScienceOfPolitics with Michael Kistner on Paying for the Party www.niskanencenter.org/legislators-...

Legislators are raising money instead of making policy - Niskanen Center

Michael Kistner finds that when legislators spend a lot of time raising money, they spend less making policy.

niskanencenter.org

Congratulations to Michael Kistner (@mkistner.bsky.social) on the forthcoming publication of his new article “Ambition and Conflict in State Legislatures” in the Journal of Politics (@thejop.bsky.social). Read the article here: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Ambition and Conflict in State Legislatures | The Journal of Politics: Vol 0, No ja

journals.uchicago.edu

In a new article @isq-jrnl.bsky.social, Nazli Avdan, Shelby Davis (an excellent Ph.D. student @houstonpolsci.bsky.social), and I examine the role that women play as practitioners of magic in African rebel organizations. doi.org/10.1093/isq/...

Magical Practices and the Recruitment of Women into Rebel Groups

Abstracts. Magical practices play a central role in the indoctrination and socialization processes of many rebel organizations. Qualitative scholarship has

doi.org

Our next candidate is Lucia Lopez. Lucia’s research explains how public opinion and public policy intersect, particularly in the domain of welfare. Her work is funded by the Russell Sage Foundation and the Rapoport Family Foundation. Find out more at Lucia-Lopez.com.

Looking to hire a political economist or comparativist? Look no further! Shiladitya is a PhD candidate with EITM training who studies electoral politics. Find out more at sites.google.com/view/shiladi....

Looking to hire a political science PhD? UH has some great candidates on the job market right now. Over the next few days we’ll be highlighting them. Today’s candidate is Grace Cho, a political theorist who studies religion and secularization.

Timely research from Prof. Ollerenshaw. Read about it here!

Public Opinion Quarterly - POQ@poqjournal.bsky.social · 10mo ago

How have Americans’ immigration attitudes changed in recent decades? Ollerenshaw and Jardina observe how opinions have evolved since 1988 among partisan and racial/ethnic groups. The most significant shifts have been from white Democrats. Read more: doi.org/10.1093/poq/...

Congratulations to PhD Candidate Lucía López (@llopez.bsky.social) on being awarded the 2025–26 Early Career Fellowship from the APSA Experimental Research Section (@experimentsapsa.bsky.social)! 🎉 Lucía is on the academic job market this year -- learn more about her research at lucia-lopez.com.

Congratulations to @llopez.bsky.social on being named a 2025–2026 @epovb.bsky.social Early-Career Fellow! This fellowship recognizes outstanding scholarship and potential in the field of Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior.

🎉 Congratulations to PhD student Kyle Martin! His article, “Alexander Hamilton’s Theory of Conscience: Conscience as a Source of Constitutional Obligation,” has just been published in American Political Thought. doi.org/10.1086/736327

Alexander Hamilton’s Theory of Conscience: Conscience as a Source of Constitutional Obligation | American Political Thought: Vol 14, No 3

Abstract In this article, I analyze Alexander Hamilton’s understanding of conscience as a source of moral and political obligation. In Federalist no. 85, Hamilton argues that each citizen must judge t...

doi.org

Congratulations to PhD alumna Vanessa Baird on receiving the Law and Courts Teaching Award from the American Political Science Association’s Law and Courts Section!

Congratulations to recent PhD graduate Shana Hardin on her new publication in Politics, Groups, and Identities: "Empowering Candidacy: How Authorizing the Use of Campaign Funds for Childcare Increases Women’s Candidacy for State Legislatures." Read it here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Empowering candidacy: how authorizing the use of campaign funds for childcare increases women’s candidacy for state legislatures

Women remain underrepresented at all levels of government in the United States and face numerous barriers to political participation, one of the most significant being household and caregiving resp...

tandfonline.com

Congratulations to Michael Soules (@michaeljsoules.bsky.social ) on his new article in Political Research Quarterly: "Rebels With Too Many Causes." The article shows how broad rebel recruitment can prolong civil conflicts. Read more here: doi.org/10.1177/1065...

Rebels With Too Many Causes: Diverse Recruitment Appeals and the Intractability of Civil Conflicts - Michael J. Soules, 2025

Do rebel groups benefit from attempting to appeal to larger segments of society by mobilizing around more diverse ideologies? Prior work has examined a variety ...

doi.org

Congratulations to Boris Shor on the publication of his new article, "Are State Legislative Leaders Moderates?" in Legislative Studies Quarterly. Read the article here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Are State Legislative Leaders Moderates?

Spatial models of legislative organization predict that elected leaders will be moderates with respect to their constituency, the party caucus. However, empirical studies of leader positioning in Con...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Congratulations to Lucia Lopez on receiving a Russell Sage Foundation Dissertation Research Grant! 🎉 Lucia will be on the academic job market this year. You can learn more about her research at www.lucia-lopez.com. www.russellsage.org/awarded-proj...

How Features of Policy Design and Misperceptions Shape Public Opinion

Housing vouchers are both effective and widely supported, yet the housing vouchers program is underfunded. This may be due to American’s conflicting views about housing assistance. Recent scholarship ...

russellsage.org

Catch up on faculty highlights, student achievements, new research, and more in the latest edition of the University of Houston Department of Political Science newsletter. 📬 Read it here: www.uh.edu/class/politi...

We are excited to announce the placements of our amazing PhD students and recent graduates. Please join us in celebrating their next steps! 👇

States with existing renewable energy policies are more likely to promote the equitable adoption of rooftop solar power finds @aparajitadatta.bsky.social‬ of @houstonpolsci.bsky.social blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...

We are saddened to share the news of the passing of our colleague, Alin Fumurescu. Alin was a valued member of our department and a thoughtful friend to many. He will be missed. Our condolences go out to his family, friends, and all who knew him.

Congratulations to Allison Archer and Erik Peterson on their new article in PS: Political Science & Politics: “The Fragility of the Local News Trust Advantage.” A timely study on how partisan attacks erode trust in local journalism. Read here: doi.org/10.1017/S104...

Congrats to Sam Chapa and Jeronimo Cortina on their new article in Social Science Quarterly: "Unraveling the Healthy Immigrant Paradox." doi.org/10.1111/ssqu...

Unraveling the Healthy Immigrant Paradox: The Impact of Inclusion on Immigrant Health Outcomes in the United States

Objective Prior work finds that immigrants typically arrive in the United States with better health than native-born Americans but that their good health deteriorates over time due to a confluence o.....

doi.org

The department will be hosting an open house to allow students to learn about the political science major and minor. It will be held on March 5th from 11:30 am to 1 pm. It will be held in PGH 448. Snacks will be provided!

Congratulations to Libby Jenke and her co-author Kirk Bansak. Their article "Odd Profiles in Conjoint Experimental Designs: Effects on Survey-Taking Attention and Behavior" was published in Political Analysis. doi.org/10.1017/pan....

Congratulations to Alex Badas and his co-author Eric Schmidt. Their article "Social Imagery and Subjective Ideological Proximity to the Supreme Court: Evidence From Evangelical Christians" was published in Political Research Quarterly. doi.org/10.1177/1065...

We are excited to be hosting the 2025 Texas Methods (Tex-Meth) conference, which will be held February 21-22. Check out the scheduled presentation at the link provided. uh.edu/hobby/cpp/ev...

Texas Methods Meeting

Description goes here.

uh.edu

This semester we will be holding a webinar series on the Issues and Impact on the Upcoming Texas Legislative session. Check out the flier for the full list of events and register using the QR codes.

Interested in graduate school in political science? Come to our virtual information session on Jan 31 at 1 pm cst. Register here: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Congratulations to Samantha Chapa and her co-authors Sarah Bryan and Alexia Rauen. Their article "experiences of immigrant survivors of violence with law enforcement" has been published in Politics, Groups, and Identities. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Experiences of immigrant survivors of violence with law enforcement

Ongoing police brutality in the United States has forced Americans to grapple with the role of law enforcement. Negative interactions with police, as representatives of government, can leave indivi...

tandfonline.com