Mackenzie Lockhart
@maclockhart.bsky.social
Former Yale Postdoc, UCSD PhD. Studying elections, voters, and representation. Occasional runner, even more occasional swimmer. www.maclockhart.com
Five years of looking for an academic job and I only have one first round interview to show for it. Apparently 350 citations, an APSR + AJPS, 10+ pubs, grants, and 2 APSA + 1 journal best paper awards aren’t enough anymore. Things are rough out there, be nice to folks you know on the job market.
Starting the semester with thoughts about what to say when you can't say everything, with my chums @media-studies.bsky.social and Liana Winett @ohsunews.bsky.social www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/...
What Can You Say When You Can’t Say Everything? | Health Affairs Journal
Today’s decisions about what and how to communicate about population health occur amid very real fears and expectations of harsh reprisal that have had far-reaching impacts, both for people’s health a...
healthaffairs.org
New paper at Health Affaird (w/ Alan Gerber, @ericpatashnik.bsky.social, and @haroldpollack.bsky.social). When do health professionals endorse omitting details of scientific studies in public health communication? When it would create confusion or stigmatize groups! doi.org/10.1377/hlth...
Health Services Professionals Endorse Omitting Some Research Information Under Limited Circumstances: Survey | Health Affairs Journal
In an era of polarization, misinformation, and declining public trust in experts, effective public communication about health research is essential for disseminating evidence and maintaining the credibility of the research enterprise. Yet when communicating research findings to general audiences, experts face dilemmas about whether to omit information to avoid public confusion, to prevent the stigmatization of marginalized constituencies, or to keep information from being weaponized against vulnerable groups. Drawing on a national survey of health services professionals conducted in April and May 2025, we found that respondents generally rejected omissions serving self-protective or politically strategic ends but accepted omissions aimed at preventing public confusion or harm to marginalized groups. There is meaningful variation in support for these justifications by ideology, education, and workplace. In weighted regressions, conservatives, PhD holders, and those working outside academia in government or other nonuniversity settings were less likely to endorse omissions as justified compared with liberals and moderates, non-PhDs, and university-based researchers. These findings reveal both common ground and meaningful division in how professionals view transparency, underscoring the need for research on actual communication behavior and guidance to help experts navigate these dilemmas.
doi.org
Three thought-provoking papers in Health Affairs on "omission" in health and health-research communication. www.healthaffairs.org/doi/epdf/10.... www.healthaffairs.org/doi/epdf/10.... www.healthaffairs.org/doi/epdf/10....
When (if ever) do health services professionals believe it is OK to omit research information in their public communication? Alan Gerber, @maclockhart.bsky.social @haroldpollack.bsky.social & I conducted a survey to find out. See our new @healthaffairs.bsky.social article. Open access; link below.
In a society that shows tenuous commitment to the well-being of vulnerable groups, researchers face ethical dilemmas in communicating research findings that might be used to harm the people and communities we seek to help. Our team in @healthaffairs.bsky.social healthaffairs.org/doi/epdf/10....
Health Services Professionals Endorse Omitting Some Research Information Under Limited Circumstances: Survey
healthaffairs.org
New paper out in Cities. We combine a survey of city councillors with a survey of the general public. Do councillors share their constituents’ housing preferences? Yes. Are they responsive to these preferences? Also yes—but only to those ideologically proximate www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Most recent pub here before I link to housing stuff over the next couple days: journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1... #cdnpoli
New article published at the International Journal of Political Science with @ericmerkley.bsky.social and @stecula.bsky.social academic.oup.com/ijpor/articl...
Why would Vancouver city council oppose density measures after hearing from a “tsunami” of opposition? Well I’m flummoxed. Well. Not flummoxed, really. #vanpoli #nimby #yimby #cdnpoli academic.oup.com/ijpor/articl...
In the pre-1960s South, which Supreme Court Republicans have just brought back from the dead, Black citizens have no voice in federal lawmaking. (@jacobhacker.bsky.social, Zoli Hajnal, @markarianga.bsky.social and @maclockhart.bsky.social, @prospect.org) prospect.org/2026/06/03/r...
The Return of the Dixiecrat South - The American Prospect
In the pre-1960s South, which Supreme Court Republicans have just brought back from the dead, Blacks have no voice in federal lawmaking.
prospect.org
The conservative SCOTUS majority just gutted the VRA. The obvious consequence: fewer Black legislators. The less obvious one: Black voters in the South losing the mechanism that made Congress actually vote their way. @prospect.org with Zoli Hajnal @markarianga.bsky.social @maclockhart.bsky.social
The American Prospect@prospect.org · 5mo agoMillions of voters of color will no longer be able to elect a representative of their choice. But what’s at stake is far bigger: whether voters of color can elect legislators whose votes actually reflect their policy preferences. prospect.org?p=139239
⚖️ Do major campaign scandals change voters’ minds? ➡️ @maclockhart.bsky.social G. Huber, A. Gerber, J. Walker II show Donald Trump’s felony conviction had virtually no effect on his supporters, while common survey methods produce conflicting estimates www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #FirstView
#OpenAccess from @psrm.bsky.social - Measuring the effects of campaign events: Specifying and comparing estimates of the effect of Trump’s conviction - https://cup.org/42MQUMO - @maclockhart.bsky.social, Gregory A. Huber, Alan S. Gerber & Jack D. Walker II #FirstView
From our FirstView: Race, Responsiveness, and Representation in U.S. Lawmaking by G. AGUSTIN MARKARIAN, @jacobhacker.bsky.social , @maclockhart.bsky.social and ZOLTAN HAJNAL. doi.org/10.1017/S000...
🚨 New paper out at @ajpseditor.bsky.social 🚨 Do the public hold meaningful attitudes? Using the case of abortion policy preferences, we provide strong evidence that policy prefrences can be coherent, stable over time, and causally explain vote choice. doi.org/10.1111/ajps...
This is an important paper at @apsrjournal.bsky.social. It's not exactly surprising that racism undermines effective representation, but it is well and carefully done. Congrats to @markarianga.bsky.social, @jacobhacker.bsky.social, @maclockhart.bsky.social, and Hajnal doi.org/10.1017/S000...
Check out this great thread on our latest work out now in the APSR!
Jacob Hacker@jacobhacker.bsky.social · 12mo agoIs national policy more responsive to the preferences of white Americans than to those of people of color? When Republicans control the presidency and/or the Senate, yes. White voters are more likely to see legislation they support become law than are Black, Latino, or Asian American voters.
Our new @apsrjournal.bsky.social is out! We study whether policy and congresspeople are more responsive to White Americans than racial minorities, matching individual level opinion to policy outcomes and roll call votes on 134 issues using 500K survey responses from 2016-2022. 1/n
Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR@cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · 12mo ago#OpenAccess from @apsrjournal.bsky.social - Race, Responsiveness, and Representation in U.S. Lawmaking - https://cup.org/47BDxm1 - G. AGUSTIN MARKARIAN, @jacobhacker.bsky.social, @maclockhart.bsky.social & ZOLTAN HAJNAL #FirstView
Honoured to see our work recognized in this way. The project started in my first year of graduate school, so I’m glad to see the many, many hours we put in were worth it.
Political Analysis@polanalysis.bsky.social · last yr.We are pleased to announce the 2025 Editors’ Choice Award for the paper “How Much Should We Trust Instrumental Variable Estimates in Political Science? Practical Advice Based on 67 Replicated Studies” by @apoorvalal.com, @maclockhart.bsky.social, @yiqingxu.bsky.social, and @garyzu.bsky.social.
Two paper rejections in one day! I think it's a sign I should log off my email to make sure it doesn't hit 3.
From February 2025 - Can Official Messaging on Trust in Elections Break Through Partisan Polarization? - cup.org/433kRJP - @jengaudette.bsky.social, @sethjhill.bsky.social, Thad Kousser, @maclockhart.bsky.social & Mindy Romero #OpenAccess
With the Canadian election looming, are you wondering about how provincial politics might affect the federal outcome? Our pre-print shows where you should expect to see provincial politics bleed over the most (spoiler alert - the answer is Quebec!)
Mackenzie Lockhart@maclockhart.bsky.social · 2y agoNew pre-print out with Alex Rivard ( @sfufass.bsky.social): "I’m a Federal Sovereigntist but a Provincial Nationalist: Party Identification in a Multi-Level Westminster Democracy" Ever wondered how voters handle partisan identity at levels besides the national government?
New pre-print out with Alex Rivard ( @sfufass.bsky.social): "I’m a Federal Sovereigntist but a Provincial Nationalist: Party Identification in a Multi-Level Westminster Democracy" Ever wondered how voters handle partisan identity at levels besides the national government?
Did I promise myself not to take on any new projects? Yes. Did I take on a new project because I promised myself it was a teenie tiny little itty bitty project? Also yes. Is it going to end up being a teenie tiny little itty bitty project? I plead the fifth.
I happily subscribed to the WaPo for their news coverage and stayed subscribed through many editorials I disagreed with because I believe in paying for journalism. But an editorial page with an official point of view is not something I need to fund. I’ll take my subscription dollars elsewhere.
Ben Mullin@benmullin.bsky.social · 2y agoSCOOP: WaPo Opinion editor David Shipley is out. Jeff Bezos emails staff about a change to Post Opinions: "We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets."
NEW - Can Official Messaging on Trust in Elections Break Through Partisan Polarization? - cup.org/433kRJP - @jengaudette.bsky.social, @sethjhill.bsky.social, Thad Kousser, @maclockhart.bsky.social & Mindy Romero
🚨 New paper out at @bjpols.bsky.social 🚨 Can Official Messaging on Trust in Elections Break Through Partisan Polarization? Yes! We show, using large national and state specific survey experiments, that public information campaigns from election officials work.
