News & views.
A collection of stories about data, public opinion and politics and news about our firm.
When writing reveals character
We can learn a lot from Eisenhower's writing, which is spare, concise and stripped of the passive voice. Even his edits are instructive. He assumes responsibility for the campaign and uses language that ordinary people can understand. "This particular operation" becomes "my decision to attack."
Extreme Views Can Amplify Polarization
Public opinion data plays a central role in venture capital legend Mary Meeker's annual Internet Trends Report, and this year is no exception. For example, her analysis of Internet usage reveals deep ambivalence with living our lives online.
Should Voters Pick the Vice President Directly?
What's the single most important thing Americans can do to get our national government to work more effectively? Elect the vice president. This is the argument vice.run, a new national reform campaign, is making across the country.
Axios Risks a Rust Belt Misread
The media has pledged not to repeat the mistakes of 2016, chief among them misreading public opinion data. We hope Axios wakes up before making the same mistake in 2020.
Why is Everyone Running for President and not Mayor?
Most American mayoral elections feature a single candidate, running unopposed, says Melissa Marschall of Rice University, who studied a cross-section of 2016 municipal elections. How do we explain this lack of interest in managing cities, especially in a time when American mayors are leading on critical issues like climate change?
A Climate Change and Leadership Breakthrough in New Orleans
Times are changing, and the case is growing that mayors should be at the center of all decision-making for their constituents. Cities should control their own destinies, goes the argument – and Mayor Cantrell is making a compelling case.
What Business Leaders Can Learn from the Amazon-NYC Saga
The debate over Amazon's NYC expansion continues, with the latest salvo a show of support from a group of business, civic and labor leaders. Rather than focus on the deal's death and possible resurrection, we distill three key findings to help other companies grow in cities.
The Power of Local TV News
Declining trust and evolving business models continue to buffet the media industry. Christine Schmidt at Harvard's Nieman Foundation proposes a way to reverse both trends: collaborations with local TV stations. Local television is the most trusted form of news, and until 2017 it outpaced all digital as a source for news content. And yet local TV accounts for only 7 percent of news media collaborations, which are exploding among digital sites, daily papers and nonprofit newsrooms.
The Role of Data Visualization in Media
It's not an easy watch, but we highly recommend this multimedia analysis by Vox on America's gun violence epidemic. It's among the most effective examples of data visualization we've seen. The straightforward charts, videos and hand-edits are central to the piece's argument, not distractions or add-ons.
Varsity Blues and Boeing: Trust and Transparency in America
The unfolding scandals over university admissions and air travel safety are best understood along the tragic arc of declining trust in America. It's an arc that goes back, at least, to the Vietnam war, when Americans tipped sharply into cynicism and distrust in institutions of all kinds.
Artificial intelligence keeps California Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom up at night. Here’s what he can do about it
Alongside venture capital executive David Beier, Andrew outlines an AI agenda which prioritizes listening to the public.
Voices from West Texas
Energy development is as much a part of Texas culture as football in the fall. But Texans doubt that developers can extract oil and gas resources while also protecting the communities, land and water.
A 2018 break in political tradition
Not only does the new class of leaders heading to Washington look different from their predecessors, some are also breaking with tradition when it comes to governing.
Storytelling Eats Policy (and Ideology) for Breakfast
In politics and public affairs, you need good stories to communicate the values and purpose which guide you. Policy ideas and philosophical frameworks may be important, but they are secondary to compelling, authentic storytelling. Even objective data, our bread and butter, is most impactful when it tells a good story.
Digital Lessons from the Midterms
Our friends at Bully Pulpit Interactive have put together a must-read set of strategy takeaways from the midterm elections. Among them: video content must be digital-first.
Our Political Fault Lines
The divisions in American politics are best understood as regional, not urban versus rural or coastal versus heartland. This is the thesis from Colin Woodard, the journalist and author of American Nations, a book we turn to regularly for its insights into the diverse values which underpin American politics.
Colin Kaepernick's Counterintuitive Use of Silence
Kaepernick rarely issues his own tweets and does not participate in interviews. It's a counterintuitive approach in today's always on, 24/7 media landscape, in which leaders of all kinds try to shape the public discourse through first person use of social media.
On Strategic Thinking
Yale history professor Beverly Gage offers a thoughtful analysis of the meaning and application of "strategy," a term more widely used than understood. In her view, a strategy outlines how you move toward a goal in the face of obstacles and with limited resources.