Illustration of two people trying to communicate through tin-can phones with a disconnected string

How Media Stifles Deliberative Democracy

As outlets that welcome rational exchanges of ideas dwindle those that serve as echo chambers are exploding. What does that mean for free speech and the health of the US?
A voter checks in at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3103 polling location on November 8, 2022 in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

What Makes Us Vote the Way We Do?

According to some political scientists, it's more about group identity than personal interests.
An illustration of a man holding his face in his hands

Is There a Cure for Information Disorder?

Researchers are concerned not only with our exposure to mis- and disinformation but with the depth of confidence people have in their inaccurate beliefs.
House Democrats applaud after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi signed the Inflation Reduction Act, August 12, 2022

Do You Trust Your Democratic Representatives?

Scholars of politics and media have been tracking an ongoing collapse of trust in representative democracy's core institutions. What's at stake?