Election Beat 2020: The influential roles of white evangelicals and ‘religious nones’
Scholar Thomas E. Patterson considers the roles of white evangelicals and the religiously unaffiliated in the 2020 election.
Election Beat 2020
In the weeks leading up to the 2020 U.S. election, Thomas E. Patterson wrote this series of research-based pieces examining election-related topics and how journalists cover them. Patterson is Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press at Harvard Kennedy School and author of “Is the Republican Party Destroying Itself?” He also conceived The Journalist’s Resource and oversaw its initial development.
Expert Commentary
Election Beat 2020: An exploration of the ‘convention bounce’
Every presidential nominating convention since 1996 has produced a bump in the polls — referred to as a “convention bounce” — of 2% or less, Tom Patterson writes.
Expert Commentary
Election Beat 2020: Focus on America’s two largest recent immigrant groups
“In 2020, Hispanics and Asian Americans — the nation’s two largest recent immigrant groups — deserve close attention,” writes Harvard professor Thomas E. Patterson
Expert Commentary
Election Beat 2020: Let them be heard — Covering the national party conventions
While journalists may find nothing new in what the nominees say during national party conventions, much of it will be new to many voters, writes Harvard professor Thomas E. Patterson.
Expert Commentary
Election Beat 2020: Why U.S. voting rights are less than absolute
Harvard professor Thomas E. Patterson explains why journalists must help the public understand why U.S. voting rights are less than absolute.
Expert Commentary
Election Beat 2020: The real and false risks of mail-in voting
“If states were to greatly expand their mail-balloting option, risks will remain, though the risks do not include some of the possibilities that have attracted substantial news coverage,” writes Thomas E. Patterson.
Expert Commentary
Election Beat 2020: The other problem with journalists’ use of polls
As in their coverage of the 1948 presidential election, journalists still tend to build their narratives and candidate images around poll results.
Expert Commentary
Election Beat 2020: Journalists’ meta-narratives of political candidates
“Election Beat 2020” is a new series of columns authored by Thomas E. Patterson at Harvard Kennedy School. In his inaugural piece, he discusses the problem of “meta-narratives.”
Expert Commentary