Oscar P
@oscarp
political scientist @newamerica.org 📍 NY
Our new report on the costs and value of ballot initiatives has some neat graphs showing where initiatives are more costly (California, of course) and how more money doesn't always guarantee an initiative will pass (the issues matter a lot!) www.newamerica.org/insights/dir...
In a new survey fielded in 10 states that don't have citizen initiatives, we find that most respondents don't know whether their state allows them. But once told their state doesn't have citizen initiatives, majorities are supportive of adopting the process. www.newamerica.org/insights/low...
"Politics transformed? Electoral competition under ranked choice voting" onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Finally got to take the new acela and it's... fine! It's sleek and has better connections between cats. Biggest gripes are that the cafe car doesn't have tables anymore, there are no overhead reading lights, and it's not faster!!
We also looked at policy views in the districts. Lots of different positions that are left inadequately represented by the parties and that could support a multi-party system.
Dems got most of their votes from ethnically diverse districts; Reps from predominantly white. Competitive districts varied a lot: a big challenge for parties trying to capture them.
We wrote about this in 2022 - and the divergence seems to have continued since. We wanted to see what types of districts each party represented in 2020/2022, what competitive districts looked like, and what that means for the coalitions parties need to win in a winner-take-all system.
Highly recommend this book by the incredibly talented Haley Cohen on the gripping, harrowing, but ultimately inspiring story of the grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Flow...
Finally got around to reading this excellent novel (You Dream of Empires in English). Highly recommended!
Proportional representation could help narrow the age divide: young people can create new parties, parties have incentives to diversify their candidate lists, incumbents have some advantage but not as much as in winner-take-all elections.
Some graphs from our report on the age divide that really struck me: Almost 40% of US representatives are above retirement age and that is a uniquely American problem. It also doesn't seem like term limits would help much: new members of Congress are...not that young!
“An uncommon animal, called by naturalists a GERRYMANDER,” Ohio State Journal, August 31, 1842. From @leedrutman.bsky.social's essay on previous gerrymandering wars and how to fix the problem once and for all (proportional representation!) leedrutman.substack.com/p/what-the-a...
Excited to go to New Orleans this week for @netrootsnation.bsky.social. I'm on a panel making the case for proportional representation in the US. Come check it out if you're around!
Instant run-off results from last week's election are out. Mamdani wins 56% of the votes in the third round, 12 points ahead of Cuomo.