***We’ve changed the name of this podcast to The Science of Politics as of January 2019 to better reflect our commitment to showcasing up-and-coming political scientists who offer data-driven insights for today’s current events. Please see the show’s new webpage here.***

You can subscribe to the Political Research Digest on iTunes here.

The Political Research Digest features up-and-coming researchers delivering fresh insights on the big trends driving American politics and policy today. In 15 minutes, you’ll get beyond punditry to data-driven understanding.

Each episode goes in-depth on one hot topic in the news with two researchers who have just published relevant empirical studies. Hear about their new discoveries and get the broader context that’s lost in the daily news shuffle.

Topics covered include the influence of cable news, the gender gap in voting, and why our national discussion of climate change is so polarized. Grossmann and guests explain what we do and don’t know and why it matters as they knock down common myths and make cutting-edge research accessible to political professionals.

Political Research Digest is hosted by political scientist Matt Grossmann of Michigan State University and provided by the Niskanen Center, a Washington think tank dedicated to improving policy and advancing liberty.  

The podcast is available for a free subscription on iTunes and Soundcloud and on this site. We list each episode below with links to the studies discussed and the researchers interviewed.

Episode 1: How Fox News Channel Spreads its Message and Persuades Viewers
Studies: Bias in Cable News and No Need to Watch
Interviews: Gregory Martin, Emory University and Audrey McClain, Temple University

Episode 2: Why Republican Women Don’t Run for Office and Why It Matters for the Gender Gap in Voting
Studies: Which Women Can Run? and Who is Responsible for the Gender Gap?
Interviews: Heather Ondercin, Wooster College and Danielle Thomsen, Syracuse University

Episode 3: Polarized Opinion on Climate Change and Messages that Move Conservatives
Studies: Climate Change: U.S. Public Opinion and Improving Climate Change Acceptance among U.S. Conservatives
Interviews: Megan Mullin, Duke University and Graham Dixon, Ohio State University

Episode 4: How the House Freedom Caucus Gains Power in Congress
Studies: Building the Bloc and Who are President Trump’s Allies?
Interviews: Ruth Bloch Rubin, University of Chicago and Andrew Clarke, Lafayette College

Episode 5: How Gun Politics and Gun Policy Polarize America
Studies: Planting in Fertile Soil and Emerging Political Identities?
Interviews: Jay Barth, Hendrix College and Mark Joslyn, University of Kansas

Episode 6: Multi-Racial Electoral Coalitions for Minority Candidates
Studies: “Racial Change, Racial Threat, and Minority Representation in Cities” and “Racial Coalition Building in Local Elections”
Interviews: Paru Shah, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Andrea Benjamin, University of Missouri

Episode 7: Rules Around the Senate Filibuster
Studies: “Exceptions to the Rule: The Politics of Filibuster Limitations in the U.S. Senate” and “On Parliamentary War: Partisan Conflict and Procedural Change in the U.S. Senate”
Interviews: Molly Reynolds, Brookings Institution and James Wallner, R Street Institute

Episode 8: Does the Tax Law Signal Change in How Parties use Tax Credits and Deductions?
Studies: “The distributive politics of tax expenditures” and “American Exceptionalism Revisited”
Interviews: Christopher Faricy, Syracuse University and Joshua McCabe, Endicott College

Episode 9: Congressional Primaries: How the Parties Fight Insurgents
Studies: “The Party’s Primary” and “Congressional Primary Elections”
Interviews: Hans Hassell, Cornell College and Robert Boatright, Clark University

Episode 10: The Resistance: Who is Protesting Trump and Are They Changing Public Views?
Studies: “American Resistance” and “A Change of Heart”
Interviews: Dana Fisher, University of Maryland and Nazita Lajevardi, Michigan State University

Episode 11: Do Americans Implicitly Trust Government, Despite our Public Anger?
Studies: “Anger and Declining Trust in Government in the American Electorate” and “My Trust in Government is Implicit”
Interviews: Steven Webster, Emory University and Stephen Nicholson, University of California-Merced

Episode 12: Are Americans Becoming Tribal, with Identity Politics Trumping All?
Studies: “One Tribe to Bind Them All” and “Affective Polarization or Partisan Disdain?”
Interviews: Liliana Mason, University of Maryland and John Barry Ryan, Stony Brook University

Episode 13: Are Red and Blue States Making Red and Blue Policies?
Studies: “Policy Preferences and Policy Change” and “Lawmaking in American Legislatures”
Interviews: Christopher Warshaw, George Washington University and Mark Richardson, James Madison University

Episode 14: Racial Stereotypes in Voting for Obama and Trump
Studies: “The Racial Double Standard” and “Negative Black Stereotypes, Support for Excessive Use of Force by Police, and Voter Preference for Donald Trump During the 2016 Presidential Primary Election Cycle.”
Interviews: Darren Davis, University of Notre Dame and Randall Swain, Eastern Kentucky University

Episode 15: How Debt Finance Leads to War and Defense Spending
Studies: “Borrowing Support for War” and “Guns, Butter, and Debt”
Interviews: Sarah Kreps, Cornell University and Matthew DiGiuseppe, University of Mississippi

Episode 16: Anti-Immigration Politics: Is California’s Past the Republicans’ Future?
Studies: “Reexamining the Effect of Racial Propositions on Latinos’ Partisanship in California” and “Creating a Racially Polarized Electorate.”
Interviews: Iris Hui, Stanford University and Joshua Zingher, Old Dominion University

Episode 17: Labor Union Influence on Inequality and Legacy Costs
Studies: “Organized Labor’s Check on Rising Economic Inequality in the U.S. States” and “Unions, Parties, and the Politics of State Government Legacy Cost”
Interviews: Laura Bucci, Saint Joseph’s University; Daniel DiSalvo, City College

Episode 18: When Liberals and Conservatives Use Genetics to Explain Human Differences
Studies: “Genetic Attributions: Sign of Intolerance or Acceptance?” and “Discord Over DNA: Ideological Responses to Scientific Communication about Genes and Race.”
Interviews: Stephen Schneider, University of Nebraska and Elizabeth Suhay, American University

Episode 19: Who’s More Afraid of Democracy: the Center or the Right?
Studies: “Follow the Leader” and “The Centrist Paradox”
Interviews: Lee Drutman, New America and David Adler, Renewing the Centre

Episode 20: Did Facebook Really Polarize and Misinform the 2016 Electorate?
Studies: “Facebook News and (de)Polarization” and “The Stealth Media?”
Interviews: Michael Beam, Kent State University and Young Mie Kim, University of Wisconsin

Episode 21: Does Nationalized Media Mean the Death of Local Politics?
Studies: The Increasingly United States and “Battleground States and Local Coverage of American Presidential Campaigns.”
Interviews: Daniel Hopkins, University of Pennsylvania; Kerri Milita, Illinois State University

Episode 22: How the Federalist Society Changed the Supreme Court Vetting Process
Studies: “Ideas with Consequences” and “Neil Gorsuch and the Ginsburg Rules”
Interviews: Amanda Hollis-Brusky, Pomona College and Paul Collins, Jr., University of Massachusetts

Episode 23: How Campaign Money Changes Elections, Before and After Citizens United
Studies: “Dark Parties” and “Are Federal PACs obsolete?”
Interviews: Anne Baker, Santa Clara University and Stan Oklobdzija, University of California, San Diego

Episode 24: How Citizens Match their Issue Positions to Candidates and Causes
Studies: “Roadmaps to Representation” and “Saying Versus Doing” 
Interviews: Cheryl Boudreau, University of California, Davis and Nicholas Hass, New York University.

Episode 25: How the Tea Party Paved the Way for Donald Trump
Studies: Reactionary Republicanism and Party Takeover
Interviews: Bryan Gervais, University of Texas at San Antonio; Rachel Blum, Miami University of Ohio

Episode 26: How Marriage & Inequality Reinforce Partisan Polarization 
Studies: “The Home as a Political Fortress” and “Inequality and Public Polarization”
Interviews: John Kuk, Washington University and Tobias Konizter of PredictWise

Episode 27: Are the Democratic or Republican Parties Becoming More Similar or Different? 
Study: Asymmetric Politicsand Red Fighting Blue
Interviews: David Hopkins, Boston College

Episode 28: How to Change Americans’ Views of Inequality: Teaching and TV
Studies: When Do the Advantaged See the Disadvantages of Others?” and “Entertaining Beliefs in Economic Mobility”
Interviews: Cecilia Mo, University of California, Berkeley; Eunji Kim, University of Pennsylvania

Episode 29: How Americans’ Politics Changes Their Religion
Studies: “From Politics to the Pews” and “Putting Politics First”
Interviews: Michele Margolis, University of Pennsylvania and David Campbell, University of Notre Dame

Episode 30: Interpreting the 2018 Election
Studies: “Delivering the People’s Message” and “The Unprecedented 2016 Presidential Election”
Interviews: Julia Azari, Marquette University and Rachel Bitecofer, Christopher Newport University

Episode 31: Does Anyone Speak for the Poor in Congress?
Studies: “Poor Representation” and “Putting Inequality in Context”
Interviews: Kris Miler, University of Maryland; Christopher Ellis, Bucknell University

Episode 32: How Public Policy Intentionally Segregated American Homeowners
Studies: “Segregation by Design” and “At the Boundaries of Homeownership
Interviews: Jessica Trounstine, University of California, Merced; Chloe Thurston, Northwestern University

Episode 33: Are Divided Governments the Cause of Delays and Shutdowns?
Studies: “Is Divided Government a Cause of Legislative Delay?” and “Divided Government and Significant Legislation: A History of Congress from 1789 to 2010.”
Interviews: Patricia Kirkland of Princeton University; Benjamin Schneer, Harvard University.

Episode 34: Did Chinese Trade Competition Increase Nativism and Elect Trump?
Studies: “Why Does Import Competition Favor Republicans?” and “What You See Out Your Back Door”
Interviews:  Francesco Ruggieri, University of Chicago; James Bisbee, New York University

Other research podcasts include “EconTalk” with Russ Roberts, “No Jargon” with Avi Green, “New Books in Political Science” with Heath Brown, “Have You Heard” with Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider, and “The Measure of Everyday Life” by Brian Southwell. Our podcast is also inspired by the blogs Marginal Revolution and The Monkey Cage, the Free Exchange column in The Economist, and Kevin Lewis’s roundup of Daily Findings at National Affairs.