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Want more teachers? Start valuing education
By Rebekah Entralgo and Bella DeVaan School districts across the country are facing a historic number of teacher vacancies — an estimated 300,000, according to the National Education Association, the largest U.S. teachers union. Some states are particularly hard hit, with approximately 2,000 empty positions in Illinois and Arizona, 3,000 in Nevada, and 9,000 in Florida. How are political leaders responding? A number of rural […]
Talking across the political aisle isn’t a cure-all – but it does help reduce hostility
By Dominik Stecuła, Colorado State University and Matthew Levendusky, University of Pennsylvania Simmering tension in American politics came to a head two years ago, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election. The failed insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, resulted in several […]
Near record-high numbers of young people voted during the midterms, signaling a possible shift
By Abby Kiesa, Tufts University The November 2022 midterms have come and gone, but there are still some potential lasting implications that could influence the next election season. One is that young people, aged 18 to 29, had one of the highest voter turnouts in a midterm election in recent history, according to our early […]
What would the world lose with the demise of Twitter?
By Anjana Susarla, Michigan State University What do a cybersecurity researcher building a system to generate alerts for detecting security threats and vulnerabilities, a wildfire watcher who tracks the spread of forest fires, and public health professionals trying to predict enrollment in health insurance exchanges have in common? They all rely on analyzing data from […]
Abortion rights referendums are winning, with state battles over rights replacing national debate
By Rachel Rebouche, Temple University The abortion landscape in the U.S. has been upended over the past five months, as many clinics offering the procedure have closed and people have traveled across state borders to obtain abortions where it remains legal. The percentage of people getting legal abortions has also dropped. Division over abortion did […]
Voters largely reject election deniers as secretaries of state – but the battles will continue
By Thom Reilly, Arizona State University Midterm voters in six states – Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico and Vermont – appear to have rejected extremist secretary of state candidates who denied the validity of the 2020 presidential election. Secretaries of state serve key roles as chief election administrators who oversee elections at the state […]
Abortion is not influencing most voters as midterms approach – economic issues are predominating
By Matthew A Baum, Harvard Kennedy School; Alauna Safarpour, Harvard Kennedy School; Jonathan Schulman, Northwestern University, and Kristin Lunz Trujillo, Harvard Kennedy School Since the Supreme Court’s June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion, election observers have raised questions about whether and how the issue of abortion will influence the […]
Young voters are more likely to skip midterm elections than presidential races
By Jan Leighley, American University School of Public Affairs Midterm elections typically have lower voter turnout than presidential elections, but there is another crucial difference beyond just how many people vote: how old they are. If past turnout patterns hold in 2022’s midterm election, most demographic groups will be represented as much as they are […]
The important role of secs. of state in administering fair elections is changing. Not in a good way
By Thom Reilly, Arizona State University The state officials who administer fair, accessible and secure elections have historically operated quietly without garnering much public attention. Elections happen, votes are counted, the winners are declared and democracy moves on. But since 2020, secretaries of state and other state officials who oversee elections have come under increasing […]
LGBTQ+ youth in Ohio are fighting for the freedom to exist
By Cynthia Peeples, Honesty for Ohio Education; Maria Bruno, Equality Ohio; and Sean McCann, ACLU of Ohio Across Ohio and the country, LGBTQ+ youth, particularly transgender and gender-nonconforming youth, are being used as pawns in a national extremist political agenda designed to weaponize race and identity in public education. We know from the Trevor Project’s 2022 […]
Louis Pasteur’s discoveries revolutionized medicine and continue to save millions of lives
By Rodney E. Rohde, Texas State University Some of the greatest scientific discoveries haven’t resulted in Nobel Prizes. Louis Pasteur, who lived from 1822 to 1895, is arguably the world’s best-known microbiologist. He is widely credited for the germ theory of disease and for inventing the process of pasteurization – which is named after him […]
Keep your hands off journalists
Reporters need a thick skin. Hard-hitting stories can generate a lot of complaints, including abusive language and the occasional threat. It got out of hand this month in Las Vegas where a reporter was stabbed to death in his home. Police have arrested an elected official who had been the subject of several investigative stories […]