by Zoe Kava, Thomas Hershewe, Jael Strell, and Brian Schaffner A rise in gun ownership and gun sales was an often discussed side story of the pandemic. According to some estimates, one fifth of U.S households purchased guns during the pandemic, marking more than 15 million Americans who became first…

by Jael Strell, Thomas Hershewe, Zoe Kava and Brian Schaffner On August 8th, Ohio voters delivered a decisive rejection of Issue 1, aimed at making it more difficult for constitutional protections for abortion from being codified in the state. This is the latest electoral setback for Republicans since achieving a…

by Thomas Hershewe, Zoe Kava, Jael Strell, and Brian Schaffner With the 2024 primaries just around the corner, it is impossible to deny the lasting impact that former President Donald Trump has had on the Republican Party. Trump’s legacy continues to shape the political landscape, influencing policy debates, primary strategies…

by Asher Smith and Thomas Hershewe Over the past 50 years, people in rural areas have become more likely to vote Republican, and areas in and around big cities have become more likely to vote Democratic. Undeniably, there is an observable relationship between living in a rural area and voting…

by Sarah Tata (class of 2023) Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for mental health support amongst adolescents is at an all-time high. A study conducted by the SAGE Open Medicine journal concluded that when aggregating data from several studies with 65,508 participants (ranging from 4 to 19…

by Jael Strell (Class of ‘23) It is no longer novel to propose that sexism plays an outsized role in how both candidates and voters view and make decisions regarding politics. Hillary Clinton’s 2016 attempt to ‘“break the glass ceiling” was inextricable from the litany of sexist and degrading rhetoric…

by Brendan Hartnett (Class of ‘23) Geospacial analysis has entered the social science mainstream. Spacial economics and political geography are trending thanks to the availability of accessible and user-friendly geospacial analysis software. As geographic distance is an increasingly popular dependent variable in social science, this tutorial explains how to use…

by Brendan Hartnett (Class of 2023) In the fall, Brian Schaffner and I shared state-level estimates of belief in Trump’s Big Lie in The Washington Post. Given pollsters did not systematically survey each state to probe its voting age population’s belief in the integrity of the 2020 Presidential Election, we…

By Julian Perry Leveraging the U.S. Census Bureau The U.S. Census Bureau is one of the most useful sources of data for anyone studying American society. The Bureau’s activities extend well beyond the decennial Census that most Americans get every 10 years; other programs include the American Community Survey (ACS)…