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Learn when your state can start processing advance ballots for the November 2020 general election.
Politics & Government
Research roundups, tip sheets, articles and explainers related to the topic of politics, elections, and local and national governments
Expert Commentary
Election Beat 2020: Will white working-class voters be decisive this time?
How should journalists think about white working-class voters in the closing weeks of the 2020 campaign? Like 2016, their concentration in a few key battleground states makes them a group deserving of special attention.
Expert Commentary
The Electoral College: How America picks its president
The U.S. has a winner-take-all electors patchwork of presidential voting systems, culminating with the Electoral College. Here’s how the process works.
Expert Commentary
Election Beat 2020: The mysterious voter registration deadline
The news media would perform a public service by making Americans aware of voter registration deadlines and what they need to do to participate in elections, writes media scholar Thomas E. Patterson.
Expert Commentary
Drug prices: Why prescription medicines remain unaffordable for many Americans
This explainer, in addition to providing an initial overview, addresses five aspects of the debate about the high costs of prescription medicines.
Expert Commentary
Election Beat 2020: How journalists influence the public’s response to presidential debates
“The first presidential debate is but a week away. The challenge for news outlets will be to try to capture the debate as a whole and not through the lens of its most sensational moment,” writes Thomas E. Patterson.
Expert Commentary
Older people more likely to die during heat waves in colder parts of the U.S. — plus, the global inequality of climate change
As wildfires scorch Oregon, California and Washington, two papers offer new detail on the intersection of temperature, mortality and place.
Expert Commentary
Election Beat 2020: The ongoing watchdog obligation to cover the US census
Tom Patterson asks whether the press has an obligation to increase its focus on the U.S. census as the new deadline for the count approaches.
Expert Commentary
Election Beat 2020: Where did all the swing voters go?
Today’s presidential nominees need not only convince voters that they’re the better choice but also that their party is an acceptable choice, writes Thomas E. Patterson.
Expert Commentary
Did U.S. taxpayers spend or save their COVID-19 stimulus checks? Follow the liquidity
Two recent surveys come to broadly different conclusions on how people used their their stimulus checks. One consistency between the two: People with less liquidity tended to part with their stimulus rather than save.
Expert Commentary