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The disappearing Tax Foundation blog post
Last week, Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler praised a Tax Foundation post about a misleading Wall Street Journal editorial graphic: Excellent Tax Foundation take down of misleading WSJ editorial chart. Bravo fact checking! Given my many previous critiques of bogus WSJ graphics, I was shocked to discover that a conservative group best known for
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Why did birther support drop so much?
When President Obama released his long form birth certificate, I was skeptical about its chances of killing the myth that he was not born in this country: Will Wednesday’s release of Obama’s long-form birth certificate put an end to the birther myth? The odds aren’t good. The problem is that people can be extremely resistant
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Twitter roundup
From my Twitter feed (5/6-5/12) Brendan Nyhan May 12, 2011 at 11:31 AM Powered by Keepstream BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Abramowitz: whites high in racial resentment view Obama more negatively, more likely to question that he was born in US http://j.mp/mFiTYG Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball » The Race Factor: White Racial Attitudes and Opinions of Obama
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Do early primary polls matter?
Can early primary polls tell us who is likely to win their party’s nomination for president? In a post a few months ago, I argued they provide little information: If we exclude sitting vice presidents (George H.W. Bush, Al Gore) and the vice president from the previous administration (Walter Mondale), the horse race polls [early
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Twitter roundup
From my Twitter feed (5/2-5/6) Brendan Nyhan May 6, 2011 at 7:50 PM Powered by Keepstream BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan A new disciplinary motto! RT @paulwaldman1: Political science: Not wrong, but often boring http://bit.ly/jyptL0 Political Science v. Journalism Andrew Gelman, a political scientist and statistician who writes at The Monkey Cage, has been in a bit of
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Is birtherism driven by race?
Bob Somerby of The Daily Howler objects to the liberal conventional wisdom that, as the New York Times put it, “It is inconceivable that this campaign [birtherism]… would have been conducted against a white president”: We think it was a remarkable statement because somewhat similar campaigns already have been conducted against white candidates. A somewhat
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New paper on presidential scandal
The latest version of my manuscript (PDF) on the effects of political and media context on presidential scandal is now available online. Here’s the abstract: Political scandal is typically portrayed as the direct result of misbehavior by public officials, but scandal should instead be understood as a widespread elite perception of misbehavior whose occurrence is
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Twitter roundup
From my Twitter feed (4/25-5/2) Brendan Nyhan May 2, 2011 at 5:56 PM Powered by Keepstream BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan RT @MysteryPollster: A look back: Obama will see a bounce, but likely to be temporary http://j.mp/ieYwqV (with my guess of 5-10 pts) Obama Approval Rating Likely To Rise After Osama Bin Laden Killing WASHINGTON — While the
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CNN.com op-ed: Why conspiracy theories die hard
I have a new commentary on CNN.com about the release of President Obama’s birth certificate yesterday and why it’s a victory for misinformation. Here’s how it begins: Recent polls have found that as much as 15% to 20% of the public, including about 30% to 45% of Republicans, falsely believe that President Barack Obama was
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Twitter roundup
From my Twitter feed (4/20-4/25) Brendan Nyhan Apr 25, 2011 at 2:40 PM Powered by Keepstream BrendanNyhan Brendan Nyhan Seven experts on “The Psychology of the ‘Birther’ Myth” at NYT’s “Room for Debate” http://j.mp/eB5Uk7 Barack Obama and the Psychology of the ‘Birther’ Myth – Room for Debate – NYTimes.com What does it say about the country