Derek Holliday
@derekholliday.com
Assistant Professor @GWU | Formerly: PostDoc @Stanford Polarization Research Lab | PoliSci PhD @UCLA | Local Politics/Representation | #rstats | Trail Runner | PNW Expat | #YNWA | #SeaUsRise
www.derekholliday.com
www.derekholliday.com
Reposted by Derek Holliday
new paper by Sean Westwood:
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
November 18, 2025 at 7:16 PM
new paper by Sean Westwood:
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
Reposted by Derek Holliday
Depolarization is not "a scalable solution for reducing societal-level conflict.... achieving lasting depolarization will likely require....moving beyond individual-level treatments to address the elite behaviors and structural incentives that fuel partisan conflict" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
September 23, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Depolarization is not "a scalable solution for reducing societal-level conflict.... achieving lasting depolarization will likely require....moving beyond individual-level treatments to address the elite behaviors and structural incentives that fuel partisan conflict" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
New in PNAS with @seanjwestwood.bsky.social and @ylelkes.bsky.social: Why depolarization is hard: Evaluating attempts to decrease partisan animosity in America
@prl.bsky.social @pnas.org
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
@prl.bsky.social @pnas.org
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
September 23, 2025 at 4:02 PM
New in PNAS with @seanjwestwood.bsky.social and @ylelkes.bsky.social: Why depolarization is hard: Evaluating attempts to decrease partisan animosity in America
@prl.bsky.social @pnas.org
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
@prl.bsky.social @pnas.org
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Derek Holliday
Careful polling shows that Americans overwhelmingly reject political violence - see e.g. brightlinewatch.org/tempered-exp..., brightlinewatch.org/accelerated-..., and www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1....
Unfortunately, it only takes one person with a gun to create a tragedy like what've seen today.
Unfortunately, it only takes one person with a gun to create a tragedy like what've seen today.
September 10, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Careful polling shows that Americans overwhelmingly reject political violence - see e.g. brightlinewatch.org/tempered-exp..., brightlinewatch.org/accelerated-..., and www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1....
Unfortunately, it only takes one person with a gun to create a tragedy like what've seen today.
Unfortunately, it only takes one person with a gun to create a tragedy like what've seen today.
Reposted by Derek Holliday
As scary as this moment is, remember that support for political violence went DOWN after the July 2024 assassination attempt against Trump, not up www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
We need to make the same thing happen this time.
We need to make the same thing happen this time.
September 10, 2025 at 9:13 PM
As scary as this moment is, remember that support for political violence went DOWN after the July 2024 assassination attempt against Trump, not up www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
We need to make the same thing happen this time.
We need to make the same thing happen this time.
There are few people as kind and inspiring as Bob was, in political science or otherwise. His dedication to his students and to the city of Houston was unparalleled, and I am lucky to be one of many who would not be where we are without him as a mentor.
news.rice.edu/news/2025/ri...
news.rice.edu/news/2025/ri...
news.rice.edu
July 18, 2025 at 9:46 PM
There are few people as kind and inspiring as Bob was, in political science or otherwise. His dedication to his students and to the city of Houston was unparalleled, and I am lucky to be one of many who would not be where we are without him as a mentor.
news.rice.edu/news/2025/ri...
news.rice.edu/news/2025/ri...
It's official -- I'll be taking my talents to Foggy Bottom this Fall! Excited to announce I've accepted an offer to join the Department of Political Science at the George Washington University as an Assistant Professor of American Politics!
May 21, 2025 at 8:51 PM
It's official -- I'll be taking my talents to Foggy Bottom this Fall! Excited to announce I've accepted an offer to join the Department of Political Science at the George Washington University as an Assistant Professor of American Politics!
Reposted by Derek Holliday
The body and blood of Christ
May 8, 2025 at 5:55 PM
The body and blood of Christ
Reposted by Derek Holliday
‼️ Two new post-docs at GW! Both affiliated with the Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics, one will be more computational, the other more experimental. Links: www.gwu.jobs/postings/119...
and
www.gwu.jobs/postings/119...
Spread the word!
and
www.gwu.jobs/postings/119...
Spread the word!
Postdoctoral Associate
The George Washington University Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics (IDDP) seeks exceptional candidates for a full-time, academic research position at the rank of post-doctoral fellow. The mis...
www.gwu.jobs
April 23, 2025 at 8:25 PM
‼️ Two new post-docs at GW! Both affiliated with the Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics, one will be more computational, the other more experimental. Links: www.gwu.jobs/postings/119...
and
www.gwu.jobs/postings/119...
Spread the word!
and
www.gwu.jobs/postings/119...
Spread the word!
Reposted by Derek Holliday
🏫Do income and education shape people's priorities?
➡️Contrary to conventional wisdom, @ctausanovitch.bsky.social @derekholliday.com show that income and education are not strongly associated with differences in what people care about www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #FirstView
➡️Contrary to conventional wisdom, @ctausanovitch.bsky.social @derekholliday.com show that income and education are not strongly associated with differences in what people care about www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #FirstView
January 16, 2025 at 7:22 AM
🏫Do income and education shape people's priorities?
➡️Contrary to conventional wisdom, @ctausanovitch.bsky.social @derekholliday.com show that income and education are not strongly associated with differences in what people care about www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #FirstView
➡️Contrary to conventional wisdom, @ctausanovitch.bsky.social @derekholliday.com show that income and education are not strongly associated with differences in what people care about www.cambridge.org/core/journal... #FirstView
Reposted by Derek Holliday
Job alert! Interested in working with PRL as a postdoc next year? Apply by January 15! We offer the opportunity to collaborate on and lead projects related to democratic attitudes, elite behavior, and more! polarizationresearchlab.org/hiring/
Hiring
Visit the post for more.
polarizationresearchlab.org
December 20, 2024 at 7:10 PM
Job alert! Interested in working with PRL as a postdoc next year? Apply by January 15! We offer the opportunity to collaborate on and lead projects related to democratic attitudes, elite behavior, and more! polarizationresearchlab.org/hiring/
Reposted by Derek Holliday
How did American attitudes toward democracy shift with the election? Our final Path to 2024 report shows substantive changes in perceptions of accuracy, trust, and resignation toward democratic backsliding.
Read the full report: prlpublic.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/reports/Elec...
Read the full report: prlpublic.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/reports/Elec...
December 16, 2024 at 1:54 PM
How did American attitudes toward democracy shift with the election? Our final Path to 2024 report shows substantive changes in perceptions of accuracy, trust, and resignation toward democratic backsliding.
Read the full report: prlpublic.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/reports/Elec...
Read the full report: prlpublic.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/reports/Elec...
Reposted by Derek Holliday
The attempted assassination of president Trump decreased support for partisan violence and did not increase polarization according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
The July 2024 Trump assassination attempt was followed by lower in-group support for partisan violence and increased group unity | PNAS
The attempted assassination of Donald Trump led to widespread concern that the event
would escalate political violence between U.S. partisans. Whil...
www.pnas.org
November 29, 2024 at 5:57 PM
The attempted assassination of president Trump decreased support for partisan violence and did not increase polarization according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Derek Holliday
Now published in PNAS! We had a survey in the field at the time of the first assassination attempt on Trump. We found that Rs became significantly less supportive of partisan violence and had increased in-party affect.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
November 26, 2024 at 7:22 PM
Now published in PNAS! We had a survey in the field at the time of the first assassination attempt on Trump. We found that Rs became significantly less supportive of partisan violence and had increased in-party affect.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
In our PNAS we don't necessarily find a negative relationship between affpol and antidemocratic norm support, but certainly a non-linear one (appendix fig. below).
Personally, I think FT measures have some pretty major empirical oddities we're still evaluating
🔗 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Personally, I think FT measures have some pretty major empirical oddities we're still evaluating
🔗 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
November 22, 2024 at 6:31 PM
In our PNAS we don't necessarily find a negative relationship between affpol and antidemocratic norm support, but certainly a non-linear one (appendix fig. below).
Personally, I think FT measures have some pretty major empirical oddities we're still evaluating
🔗 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Personally, I think FT measures have some pretty major empirical oddities we're still evaluating
🔗 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Derek Holliday
PRL's annual conference is in Salt Lake City, May 1-2, 2025 🎉Apply by 12/31 to present/attend! We are looking for work on democratic attitudes, broadly defined, and preference complete/near complete studies for talks. Details and application: polarizationresearchlab.org/annual-meeti...
Annual Meeting
Visit the post for more.
polarizationresearchlab.org
November 21, 2024 at 8:38 PM
PRL's annual conference is in Salt Lake City, May 1-2, 2025 🎉Apply by 12/31 to present/attend! We are looking for work on democratic attitudes, broadly defined, and preference complete/near complete studies for talks. Details and application: polarizationresearchlab.org/annual-meeti...
Reposted by Derek Holliday
Despite so much focus of the U.S. Election on a few battleground states, affective polarization is actually geographically uniformly distributed across states, finds
@derekholliday.com @ylelkes.bsky.social & Westwood
@prl.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/pnas...
@derekholliday.com @ylelkes.bsky.social & Westwood
@prl.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/pnas...
October 24, 2024 at 7:14 PM
Despite so much focus of the U.S. Election on a few battleground states, affective polarization is actually geographically uniformly distributed across states, finds
@derekholliday.com @ylelkes.bsky.social & Westwood
@prl.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/pnas...
@derekholliday.com @ylelkes.bsky.social & Westwood
@prl.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/pnas...
Reposted by Derek Holliday
The nationalization of news is a big part of this phenomenon. See colleagues Johanna Dunaway and Josh Darr on the importance of local news in slowing polarization. www.cambridge.org/core/element...
October 24, 2024 at 7:26 PM
The nationalization of news is a big part of this phenomenon. See colleagues Johanna Dunaway and Josh Darr on the importance of local news in slowing polarization. www.cambridge.org/core/element...
So happy to see this now published at PNAS! This paper, coauthored with Shanto Iyengar, @ylelkes.bsky.social, and Sean Westwood, was my first project for @prl.bsky.social, and there will be many more coming soon! 🥳
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
March 18, 2024 at 7:40 PM
So happy to see this now published at PNAS! This paper, coauthored with Shanto Iyengar, @ylelkes.bsky.social, and Sean Westwood, was my first project for @prl.bsky.social, and there will be many more coming soon! 🥳
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Derek Holliday
Our paper introducing the "American Local Government Elections Database" is online at Scientific Data. The data includes 78,000 candidates in 57,000 electoral contests in races for seven distinct local political offices in most medium and large cities and counties over the last three decades.
American local government elections database - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - American local government elections database
www.nature.com
December 19, 2023 at 3:32 PM
Our paper introducing the "American Local Government Elections Database" is online at Scientific Data. The data includes 78,000 candidates in 57,000 electoral contests in races for seven distinct local political offices in most medium and large cities and counties over the last three decades.
Reposted by Derek Holliday
Interested in working with PRL? We're looking for postdocs for 2024-2025! Apply by Jan 15, 2024. We're an interdisciplinary lab studying democratic attitudes and partisan animosity. Data skills required 📈
polarizationresearchlab.org/hiring/
polisky
polarizationresearchlab.org/hiring/
polisky
Hiring
Join our lab About the Positions We are looking for postdoctoral fellows (up to five) to join our team for 2024-2025 and collaborate on and develop projects related to polarization and anti-democra…
polarizationresearchlab.org
November 6, 2023 at 3:20 PM
Interested in working with PRL? We're looking for postdocs for 2024-2025! Apply by Jan 15, 2024. We're an interdisciplinary lab studying democratic attitudes and partisan animosity. Data skills required 📈
polarizationresearchlab.org/hiring/
polisky
polarizationresearchlab.org/hiring/
polisky
Reposted by Derek Holliday
Today's the day! PRL is now accepting paper proposals for our fully funded Annual Meeting in NOLA, March 20-22, 2024. We look for innovative work on partisan animosity, broadly defined. Apply by 12/15.
Can't wait to see what you are working on!
polarizationresearchlab.org/annual-meeti...
polisky
Can't wait to see what you are working on!
polarizationresearchlab.org/annual-meeti...
polisky
Annual Meeting
Meetings and Events Annual Meetings The 2024 PRL Annual Meeting will take place in New Orleans on March 21-22, 2024! This boutique conference brings together the best and most innovative wo…
polarizationresearchlab.org
November 1, 2023 at 11:47 AM
Today's the day! PRL is now accepting paper proposals for our fully funded Annual Meeting in NOLA, March 20-22, 2024. We look for innovative work on partisan animosity, broadly defined. Apply by 12/15.
Can't wait to see what you are working on!
polarizationresearchlab.org/annual-meeti...
polisky
Can't wait to see what you are working on!
polarizationresearchlab.org/annual-meeti...
polisky
"Assistant Speaker" implies the existence of adjunct speaker, associate speaker, full speaker, emeritus speaker, and endowed speaker
We can't elect a speaker. What should we do?
MCCARTHY: How about two speakers?
MCCARTHY: How about two speakers?
October 24, 2023 at 11:40 PM
"Assistant Speaker" implies the existence of adjunct speaker, associate speaker, full speaker, emeritus speaker, and endowed speaker
Reposted by Derek Holliday
Beware the UVA poll going around on support for violence & democracy tinyurl.com/uvacpoll
I've never heard of firm; few details on methods/sample; and question wording is messy and non-standard. Our survey using more careful methods finds support for violence is extremely rare tinyurl.com/viol-poll
I've never heard of firm; few details on methods/sample; and question wording is messy and non-standard. Our survey using more careful methods finds support for violence is extremely rare tinyurl.com/viol-poll
October 19, 2023 at 1:11 AM
Beware the UVA poll going around on support for violence & democracy tinyurl.com/uvacpoll
I've never heard of firm; few details on methods/sample; and question wording is messy and non-standard. Our survey using more careful methods finds support for violence is extremely rare tinyurl.com/viol-poll
I've never heard of firm; few details on methods/sample; and question wording is messy and non-standard. Our survey using more careful methods finds support for violence is extremely rare tinyurl.com/viol-poll