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An embarrassing failure for election pollsters

  • Written by W. Joseph Campbell, Professor of Communication Studies, American University School of Communication
imageWatching the presidential election returns on election night in retirement community of The Villages, Florida.Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images

Election polling is facing yet another reckoning following its uneven-at-best performance in this year’s voting.

Although the outcome in the 2020 presidential race remained uncertain the next day,...

Read more: An embarrassing failure for election pollsters

History tells us that a contested election won't destroy American democracy

  • Written by Alexander Cohen, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Clarkson University
imageTrump falsely declaring a win in the early hours of Nov. 4, 2020, the day after the US election, as ballot counting continued in Pennsylvania and other battleground states. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

With the outcome of the 2020 presidential election still hanging on the uncounted votes in a handful of battleground states, President Donald...

Read more: History tells us that a contested election won't destroy American democracy

Who invented the Electoral College?

  • Written by Phillip J VanFossen, J.F. Ackerman Professor of Social Studies Education; Director, Ackerman Center; Associate Director, Purdue Center for Economic Education, Purdue University
imageA transcript from the Constitutional Convention records the official report creating the Electoral College.U.S. National Archives, CC BY-NC-ND

The delegates in Philadelphia agreed, in the summer of 1787, that the new country they were creating would not have a king but rather an elected executive. But they did not agree on how to choose that...

Read more: Who invented the Electoral College?

'Rainbow wave' of LGBTQ candidates run and win in 2020 election

  • Written by Timothy R. Bussey, Associate Director for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Kenyon College
imageLGBTQ candidates made strides on Tuesday.Marc Bruxelle / EyeEm

More LGBTQ candidates ran for office in the United States in 2020 than ever before – at least 1,006. That’s a 41% increase over the 2018 midterms, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund.

While an estimated 5% of the U.S. population identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual,...

Read more: 'Rainbow wave' of LGBTQ candidates run and win in 2020 election

A Q A with a historian of presidential polls

  • Written by W. Joseph Campbell, Professor of Communication Studies, American University School of Communication
imageVoters wait to cast their ballots Tuesday at Johnston Elementary School in the Wilkinsburg neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

“Epic miscalls and landslides unforeseen: The exceptional catalog of polling failure” is the headline on one of scholar W. Joseph Campbell’s recent stories for The...

Read more: A Q A with a historian of presidential polls

'Wait and see' is an unsatisfying – but accurate – way to present election results

  • Written by John M. Murphy, Professor of Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
imageIt's hard to be patient. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Telling kids on Christmas Eve that they have to be patient to find out what gifts they might receive doesn’t make them happy. The same idea didn’t make many adults happy on election night 2020, either. For 100 years, media of many kinds tried to be the first with the most results.

That...

Read more: 'Wait and see' is an unsatisfying – but accurate – way to present election results

A history of contested presidential elections, from Samuel Tilden to Al Gore

  • Written by Robert Speel, Associate Professor of Political Science, Erie campus, Penn State
imageSen. John F. Kennedy speaks to supporters at Chicago Stadium four days before the 1960 election.AP Photo

As states continue to count their ballots in the 2020 election, it seems possible that Democrats and Republicans will end up in court over whether President Trump will win a second term in the White House.

President Trump has said he’s...

Read more: A history of contested presidential elections, from Samuel Tilden to Al Gore

Election night has been a big media event since electric lights first announced the winner in 1892

  • Written by Mike Conway, Associate Professor of Journalism, Indiana University
imageJournalists, like these Associated Press staffers, have always worked hard to report election results quickly – and accurately.AP Photo

As election night approaches, Americans will turn to their televisions, computers and smartphones to watch results come in for local, state and national races. Over the years, news coverage of winners and...

Read more: Election night has been a big media event since electric lights first announced the winner in 1892

Death rates have fallen by 18% for hospitalized COVID–19 patients as treatments improve

  • Written by Monica Gandhi, Professor of Medicine, Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
imageThe discovery of effective drugs and experience treating COVID-19 gives patients a much better chance at recovery today than early on in the pandemic.AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, poolimageCC BY-ND

Two large recent studies show that people hospitalized for COVID-19 in March were more than three times as likely to die as people hospitalized for...

Read more: Death rates have fallen by 18% for hospitalized COVID–19 patients as treatments improve

In supporting same-sex civil unions, Pope Francis is showing how the Catholic definition of what constitutes a family is changing

  • Written by Julie Hanlon Rubio, Professor of Christian Social Ethics, Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University
imageYoung people at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines, cheer Pope Francis in 2015, following his comments endorsing same-sex civil unions.AP Photo/Aaron Favila

Pope Francis referred to gay people as “children of God” in a recently released documentary, “Francesco.” He further noted that “a civil union...

Read more: In supporting same-sex civil unions, Pope Francis is showing how the Catholic definition of what...

More Articles ...

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  2. Poor US pandemic response will reverberate in health care politics for years, health scholars warn
  3. In supporting civil unions for same sex couples, Pope Francis is moving Catholics toward a more expansive understanding of family
  4. How schools can reduce parents' anxiety during the pandemic
  5. Magnetism of Himalayan rocks reveals the mountains' complex tectonic history
  6. Feeling disoriented by the election, pandemic and everything else? It's called 'zozobra,' and Mexican philosophers have some advice
  7. The pitfalls of hospitals seeking donations from their rich patients
  8. Why questions (good and bad) matter
  9. Why graduates of elite universities dominate the Time 100 – and what it means for the rest of us
  10. On screen and on stage, disability continues to be depicted in outdated, cliched ways
  11. How tech firms have tried to stop disinformation and voter intimidation – and come up short
  12. A few heavy storms cause a big chunk of nitrogen pollution from Midwest farms
  13. What Day of the Dead tells us about the Aztec philosophy of happiness
  14. What it's like to lose a presidential election
  15. You have rights when you go to vote - and many people are there to help if there's trouble at the polls
  16. You have rights when you go to vote – and many people are there to help if there's trouble at the polls
  17. The scariest things in the universe are black holes – and here are 3 reasons
  18. 100 years ago, the first commercial radio broadcast announced the results of the 1920 election – politics would never be the same
  19. Cahokian culture spread across eastern North America 1,000 years ago in an early example of diaspora
  20. How to be a good digital citizen during the election – and its aftermath
  21. From Trump to Trudeau, the escalator is a favorite symbol of political campaigns
  22. 5 reasons not to underestimate far-right extremists
  23. Why there's so much legal uncertainty about resolving a disputed presidential election
  24. Most surprising thing about a new report showing climate change imperils the US financial system is that the report even exists
  25. Studies link COVID-19 deaths to air pollution, raising questions about EPA's 'acceptable risk'
  26. Why scientists and public health officials need to address vaccine mistrust instead of dismissing it
  27. The Black Church has been getting 'souls to the polls' for more than 60 years
  28. Is tax avoidance ethical? Asking for a friend
  29. Ransomware can interfere with elections and fuel disinformation – basic cybersecurity precautions are key to minimizing the damage
  30. The US economy's record swings: 4 essential reads
  31. Want to teach kids about nature? Insects can help
  32. Rumors of Chris Pratt's being a 'MAGA Bro' show how Twitter's trending function can go haywire
  33. Why Americans are so enamored with election polls
  34. To save threatened plants and animals, restore habitat on farms, ranches and other working lands
  35. How 'strategic' bias keeps Americans from voting for women and candidates of color
  36. Will Russia influence the American vote?
  37. American suburbs radically changed over the decades – and so have their politics
  38. Gig worker employment fights like those in California pit flexibility against a livable wage – but 'platform cooperatives' could ensure workers get both
  39. Google antitrust case suggests Apple should be in the Department of Justice’s crosshairs too
  40. Halloween isn't about candy and costumes for modern-day pagans – witches mark Halloween with reflections on death as well as magic
  41. Why sleep experts say it's time to ditch daylight saving time
  42. On Twitter, bots spread conspiracy theories and QAnon talking points
  43. People's bodies now run cooler than 'normal' – even in the Bolivian Amazon
  44. For a growing number of evangelical Christians, Trump is no longer the lesser of two evils
  45. Cigarette smoke can reprogram cells in your airways, causing COPD to hang on after smoking ends
  46. Achieving COVID-19 herd immunity through infection is dangerous, deadly and might not even work
  47. Scientists at work: Sloshing through marshes to see how birds survive hurricanes
  48. Americans living and serving overseas could tilt the 2020 election – if only they voted
  49. No, President Trump, suburbia is no longer all white — and Black suburbanites are more politically active than their neighbors
  50. Where’s the sea ice? 3 reasons the Arctic freeze is unseasonably late and why it matters