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Taubman Center Survey: RI Voters Likely to Approve Casino Gambling

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2012Politicsabel collins, alfred taubman, angel taveras, Barack Obama, benjamin barrett hinckley, brown university, casino gaming, center, cicilline, congressional, david cicilline, district one, doherty, february, gender inclusive, independent candidate, jack reed, james langevin, lincoln chafee, mitt romney, newport, newport grand, policy, president, providence mayor, race, republican, rhode island, right direction, sheldon whitehouse, state operated, twin river, voter, whitehouse

A new Brown University poll of Rhode Island voters finds strong support for state-operated casino gaming at Twin River and Newport Grand. In the hotly contested Congressional District One race, Rep. David Cicilline retains a small lead. The survey, conducted Sept. 26 to Oct. 5 2012, is based on a sample of 496 registered voters in Rhode Island.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new public opinion survey by Brown University researchers finds that Rhode Island voters appear poised to approve questions one and two on the state ballot, which would allow casino gaming in Lincoln and Newport. Despite an approval rating of just 29.7 percent, Rep. David Cicilline appears to have an edge over Republican challenger Brendan Doherty among voters in 1st Congressional District.

Researchers at the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions and the John Hazen White Public Opinion Laboratory at Brown University surveyed a random sample of 496 Rhode Island voters from Sept. 26 to Oct. 5, 2012. The poll has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent. (more…)

Breaking a Genocide’s Silence: Rwandan Storytelling Exhibit Centerpiece of New National Archives

By Guest PostOctober 12, 20122 commentsPolitics1994, ann arbor, catalyze, conversation, culture, david wallace, english, for, grenade, hope, kakuze josiane, marriage practices, michigan, mission, mukakayange veronique, national archives, neighbourhood, painful stories, patricia pasick, perpetrator, project, resident, resilience, rwanda history, rwandan, rwandan culture, rwandan genocide, simple question, stories, storycorps, storytelling tradition, strength, university, work history, young person

ANN ARBOR — One of the casualties of the 1994 Rwandan genocide was the culture’s storytelling tradition. Resurrecting it has been the mission of a project called Stories for Hope for the past four years.

Now 99 narratives—conversations between youths and elders—will go on exhibit at the newly built Rwandan National Archives, which were decimated during the violence. On Oct. 12, the archives open again for the first time in nearly two decades. (more…)

Questions for Geoff Pullum: The ‘Grammar Gotcha’ and Political Speech

By Guest PostOctober 8, 2012Politics18th century, 19th century, 20th century, ad, american understanding, ann romney, attack, bad news, Barack Obama, blogger, brown university, bubble, bush speech, bushisms, candidate, chris christie, clint eastwood, contract, david orenstein, debate, edinburgh, egotism, english, geoff pullum, george bush, grammar gotcha, grammarian, language, language log, lindley murray, lingua franca, linguist, mark liberman, noreen malone, paul ryan, pearl harbor, pennslyvania, political speech, Politics, president roosevelt, presidential, psychological, publicity, reagan, republican, republican convention, rnc, robert lowth, scriptwriter, social, spontaneous speech, syntax, tampa, technical detail, technical knowledge, todd akin, tv, university, word choice

A long campaign season with genuine gaffes and alleged misstatements began its culmination with the first presidential debate. Like many citizens, linguist Geoff Pullum, a visiting professor at Brown, was watching.

Grammarian Geoff Pullum is the Gerard Visiting Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences at Brown University and professor of general linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. He is also a frequent blogger on language and politics on Language Log and Lingua Franca.

In a conversation with David Orenstein, he cited several specious analyses of word choice and syntax that have been used unfairly against candidates. The often ill-informed critiques stand in stark contrast to the way people are typically inclined to overcome the misstatements of others as they extract understanding from clumsy speech. Pullum will be listening closely to the presidential and vice presidential debates. (more…)

Among Voters Lacking Strong Party Preferences, Obama Faces 20 Percent Handicap Due to Race Bias

By Guest PostOctober 7, 2012Politicsamerican electorate, anthony greenwald, association test, Barack Obama, black, brian nosek, data, election, electorate, eligible voter, ethnicity, gender, implicit, kaiyuan xu, mitt romney, online study, polarized, political party, politically partisan, popular vote, preference, presidential candidate, race, race bias, racial attitude, sexuality, sianna ziegler, sriram natarajan, teri kirby, university, Washington, white

An online study of eligible voters around the country revealed that preferences for whites over blacks among the least politically-partisan voters are strong enough to have substantial impact on their presidential candidate preference.

Among these voters, race biases against Barack Obama could produce as much as a 20 percent gap in the popular vote in a contest that would otherwise be equal. (more…)

The Right to Vote

By Guest PostOctober 6, 2012Culture, Politicsamerica, american public, bartender, cartogram, christopher uggen, civil war, crime, criminal, criminal history, data, drug offense, electorate, felon disenfranchisement, florida, floridians, former felon, gpa, grad, inmate, jeff manza, kentucky, key battleground, locked out, maine, marker, marriage, minneapolis, minnesota, new york, november, owatonna, policy, policy maker, presidency, right, rob stewart, same sex, sarah shannon, society, states, united states, university, us house, us senate, vermont, virginia, vote, voter id

A lot is up for grabs this November in America—the presidency of the United States, for one. Not to mention a third of U.S. Senate seats, all seats in the U.S. House, and state-level amendments on issues ranging from voter ID to same-sex marriage (Minnesota has both on the ballot).

But almost six million Americans will sit this one out because of something they’ve done. They’re felons—perpetrators, at some point in their lives, of a serious crime. (more…)

Second-generation Immigrants Outperform Mainstream Populations in the US, Canada, and Australia

By Guest PostOctober 6, 2012Culture, Economy, Education, Politicsafro caribbean, australia, canada, canadian integration, canadian perspective, census data, chinese, cross national, difference, employment success, heather zhang, higher education, higher generation, immigrant, immigrant success, jeffrey reitz, labour market, mainstream population, mcgill university, multiculturalism, naoko hawkins, offspring, professional occupation, reflective, research journal, second generation, social science, south asian, survey, toronto, united states, university, US, white

TORONTO, ON – A new study published by the Social Science Research journal reveals that second-generation Chinese and South Asian immigrants in the US, Canada, and Australia are more successful than the respective mainstream populations (third- and higher-generation whites).

Jeffrey G. Reitz and Naoko Hawkins from the University of Toronto and Heather Zhang from McGill University examined survey and census data from these countries to compare the achievements of immigrants and their offspring. (more…)

Obama, Romney supporters: R-E-S-P-E-C-T (just a little bit)

By Guest PostOctober 4, 2012PoliticsBarack Obama, Chicago, democrat, John McCain, marketing research, mccain voters, michigan, mitt romney, obama voter, oleg urminsky, political aisle, political season, president, presidential campaign, psychologists, republican, university, video game, yesim orhun

ANN ARBOR— It’s a common refrain during the political season—Republicans and Democrats talk past one another. They claim they live in different universes or come from different species, with little hope for extending empathy across the political aisle.

But University of Michigan researcher Yesim Orhun and her colleague Oleg Urminsky of the University of Chicago say that there exists a greater respect for one another’s views than is generally assumed. (more…)

UA Study: Cartels Squeezing Information Flow by Pressuring, Killing Journalists

By Guest PostOctober 2, 2012Media, Politicsarizona, border, cartel, celeste gonzalez bustamante, ciudad juarez, el paso, gunpoint, jeannine relly, kidnapped, knight award, maquiladoras, mexican journalist, newspaper

Two UA journalism professors have interviewed Mexican journalists along to U.S.-Mexico border to determine how drug cartels affect news reporting in the area.

Two researchers in the University of Arizona School of Journalism have traveled the length of the U.S.-Mexico border interviewing 39 Mexican journalists to find out how the drug cartels are affecting what news people receive. (more…)

Category Archives: Politics