News & views.
A collection of stories about data, public opinion and politics and news about our firm.
Medicare-for-all and the Path to Public Judgment
Did Medicare-for-all damage Elizabeth Warren's presidential prospects? It's still early, but the case is growing stronger that her proposal to replace existing health care plans with an expansion of Medicare has diminished her support.
When Smart Brevity Turns Simplistic
Focus groups serve a vital function, helping researchers explore voters' attitudes and the values underpinning them. A form of qualitative research, focus groups do not generalize the views of a broader population – that's where quantitative methods such as surveys come in. Axios is brushing past this important difference, drawing sweeping conclusions from its groups, such as the December 16 story by Alexi McCammond below.
Governor Newsom At History’s Edge
We’re at an historic moment, but historic moments haven’t fazed Gavin Newsom in the past. It’s hard to miss the parallel between the energy and fire crisis with same-sex marriage in 2004, when San Francisco Mayor Newsom put himself at the edge of a national civil rights movement.
Expanding the "Win Pie" in Sports and Business
Few areas of life are more zero sum than sports and business. If your opponent wins then you lose – it's as simple as that. Maybe not, says Wharton psychologist Adam Grant. Collaboration with a rival can boost your performance, Grant argues.
Asking the right question in 2020
There are two ways to remove a sitting president, an election or impeachment. The latter is getting all of the attention at the moment, but given the current “red wall” in the U.S. Senate, that option does not look very likely, so let’s step back and take a sober look at one simple question we all should be asking ourselves over the next 13 months. Does Donald Trump deserve re-election?
The Power of Clear Writing
"A masterpiece of precise bureaucratic prose," writes Eric Lach of the New Yorker, describing the whistleblower complaint that has shaken American politics. What's so good about it? Jane Rosenzweig of the Harvard College Writing Center breaks it down.
Presidential Politics and the Electoral College
How does the Electoral College affect where presidential candidates spend their time? This graphic from National Popular Vote Inc. distorts the size of the states based on the number of general election events they host
Restoring Public Trust
When a company breaks trust with the public, its performance suffers. How can the company restore trust? By fulfilling the promises it makes to different audiences, argue Sandra Sucher and Shalene Gupta in a recent Harvard Business Review article.
Navigating the 2020 Democratic Primary Landscape
You’re the campaign manager for one of the Democratic candidates for president. You’ve called an end-of-summer strategy retreat for your top advisors. As your colleagues gather, you sit down to sketch your view of the landscape, with five months until the Iowa Caucus. The stakes are high, so take a deep breath. Here are a few points to keep the group focused on what counts.
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.