Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Erika Franklin Fowler

Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · 7d

The new EU rules on political advertising online take effect October 10.

Google and Meta (FB, Insta) will stop political ads on their platforms 🛑

But when??? FB is now very explicit about when it takes effect: October 6

www.facebook.com/business/hel...

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Tony Clark @anthonyclark.bsky.social · 8d

If you've done in-person research at any of the following presidential libraries in the last 8 months, can you please follow me/contact me—soon—for a story I'm working on (can be off the record)?

Hoover
FDR
Truman
Eisenhower
JFK
LBJ
Ford
Carter

And either way, can you please share this request? 🙏

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Larry Levitt @larrylevitt.bsky.social · 8d

New, and a big deal: Based on updated data and changes made by the Trump administration, we now estimate that ACA enrollees would see their out-of-pocket premiums increase by 114% if enhanced premium tax credits are allowed to expire.
www.kff.org/affordable-c...

ACA Marketplace Premium Payments Would More than Double on Average Next Year if Enhanced Premium Tax Credits Expire | KFF

KFF estimates that, if Congress allows the enhanced premium tax credits to expire at the end of this year, ACA Marketplace enrollees on average would see their premium payments more than double next y...

www.kff.org

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Elizabeth (Bit) Meehan, PhD @elizabethbitmeehan.com · 12d

Key items for #polisky:

(1) due November 12, 2025

(2) ONLY undergrad seniors, bachelor's not in grad programs, OR 1st-year grad students eligible (whether in a master's or PhD program)

(3) fund all projects but emphasis on "high-priority research areas in alignment with Admin priorities" like AI

Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 12d

New: After a long wait, the GRFP solicitation is live! Deadlines have been extended to early November, so applicants have a bit over a month to submit. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

www.nsf.gov

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Dominique Heinke, ScD @epidnique.bsky.social · 16d

In news that the HHS should be shouting from the rooftops:

Availability of the RSV vaccine for pregnant people and RSV shots for infants lead to a 50% reduction in RSV-associated hospitalization of newborns during the last year! 🥳

Spread the good word, folks!
#Episky

Interim Evaluation of Respiratory Syncytial ...

This report describes RSV-associated hospitalization rates among infants and young children during the 2024–25 respiratory virus season.

www.cdc.gov

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Ryan Enos @ryanenos.bsky.social · 18d

This is hopeful.

Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 18d

“52% of all autocratization episodes become U-Turns, which increases to 73% when focusing on the last 30 years. The vast majority of U-Turns (90%) lead to restored or even improved levels of democracy”

V-Dem data

When autocratization is reversed: episodes of U-Turns since 1900

The world is in a “wave of autocratization.” Yet, recent events in Brazil, the Maldives, and Zambia demonstrate that autocratization can be halted and reversed. This article introduces “U-Turn” as ...

www.tandfonline.com

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 22d

These estimates of public support for violence (from www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/o...) are inflated - *much* higher than what we and others have found using question wording that reduces acquiescence bias: brightlinewatch.org/accelerated-... The vast majority of Americans reject political violence.

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Erika Franklin Fowler @efranklinfowler.bsky.social · 24d

Pertinent to #wesgov214 #wesgov372

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 24d

How do Americans typically react when they hit a paywall on a news site?
1% pay
11% try to get the article for free
32% give up
53% look for info elsewhere

A Pew Research Center survey also asked anyone who said they ever come across paywalls what they typically do first when that happens.

Just 1% say they pay for access when they come across an article that requires payment.

The most common reaction is that people seek the information somewhere else (53%). About a third (32%) say they typically give up on accessing the information.

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Reposted by Erika Franklin Fowler

Daniel Thiele @thieled.bsky.social · 25d

Are you an R-user looking for a ✨reproducible and free✨ solution to use #machine-translation in your #text-as-data project? Try out my new #rstats package #easieRnmt that wraps around the EasyNMT py-library for local machine tranlsation: github.com/thieled/easi...

GitHub - thieled/easieRnmt: R wrapper around the EasyNMT python library, providing "Easy to use, state-of-the-art Neural Machine Translation for 100+ languages" locally.

R wrapper around the EasyNMT python library, providing "Easy to use, state-of-the-art Neural Machine Translation for 100+ languages" locally. - thieled/easieRnmt

github.com

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Collaborative on Media & Messaging for Health and Social Policy @commhsp.bsky.social · 26d

What can the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine PSAs teach us about public health communication? In our newest COMM blog post, first author Margaret Tait breaks down her recently published research on the critical messaging missteps in federally-sponsored PSAs.

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Erika Franklin Fowler @efranklinfowler.bsky.social · 27d

Some evidence pertinent to our #wesgov372 discussion today.

Carolyn E Holmes @carolyneholmes.bsky.social · 27d

Hi, yes, this is a very good question.

Does anyone have an answer?

Danielle Kurtzleben @titonka.bsky.social · 27d

A stat I wonder about a lot: what % of Americans have been present for a shooting?

I mean I have. All those college kids in Utah have now. Everyone in Butler was. All the kids who have been there for school shootings.

So: how many?

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Reposted by Erika Franklin Fowler

Jonathan Ladd @jonmladd.bsky.social · 28d

Research: Believing that the mass public in the opposing party supports undemocratic tactics leads people to be more supportive of undemocratic tactics themselves. Being assured that a majority of your opponents oppose such radical tactics increases support for democratic norms osf.io/my987/download

osf.io

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Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 29d

Social media undercuts public health and institutional trust

A new study finds causal evidence that morally charged attacks generate anger and social media engagement which exacerbates the political polarization of public health
www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....

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Gary Schwitzer @garyschw.bsky.social · 28d

If you didn't see Marion Nestle analyze the MAHA children's health strategy report on PBS NewsHour last night, I urge you to watch at this link: open.substack.com/pub/garyschw...

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Erika Franklin Fowler @efranklinfowler.bsky.social · 29d

Awesome—can’t wait to read it, and congrats!!

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Reposted by Erika Franklin Fowler

Zander Furnas @alexanderfurnas.com · 29d

Excited to see my new paper "Conflating Lobbying and PACs: The Surprisingly Low Overlap in Organizational Lobbying and Campaign Expenditures" with @timlapira.bsky.social and @clarebrock.bsky.social out at @pspolisci.bsky.social!

Conflating Lobbying and PACs: The
Surprisingly Low Overlap in
Organizational Lobbying and Campaign
Expenditures
Alexander C. Furnas, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA
Timothy M. LaPira, James Madison University, USA
Clare Brock, Colorado State University, USA
ABSTRACT This article investigates whether campaign contributions and lobbying are com-
plementary, substitutive, or distinct forms of organizational political engagement. Our study
reveals minimal overlap between organizations that engage in lobbying and those that make
campaign contributions despite the perception that these activities are interchangeable forms
of “money in politics.” Using comprehensive contribution and lobbying report data from 1998
to 2018, we find that most politically active organizations focus exclusively on either lobbying
or making campaign contributions. Only a small percentage of organizations engage in both
activities. This finding challenges the assumption that these forms of political activity are
inherently linked. The majority of organizations engaged in political activity do so exclusively
through lobbying. However, the top lobbying groups spend the most money and almost
always have affiliated political action committees (PACs). Most lobbying money is spent by a
small number of big spenders—organizations that also have affiliated PACs. Organizations
that both lobby and make campaign contributions tend to be well resourced and rare.

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Public Opinion Quarterly - POQ @poqjournal.bsky.social · Sep 8

POQ's 2025 special issue underlines the importance of qualitative research in the social sciences.

Roller & Smith outline different methodological approaches to qualitative research and its critical role in social and behavioral sciences.

Read now: doi.org/10.1093/poq/...

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · Sep 7

Most people in Mexico and Canada say the United States is their country's greatest threat.
www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/...

When asked which country is the most important ally to their own, many people around the world name the United States. This is the most common response in 12 of the 24 non-U.S. countries included in a new Pew Research Center survey. It is tied for the top response in three additional countries.

But others say the U.S. is their nation’s greatest threat. This is the most common response in six countries and tied for top in two others.

In neighboring Canada and Mexico, as well as in Argentina, Brazil and Kenya, the U.S. is the top response on both the ally and threat questions.

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Derek Willis @dwillis.bsky.social · Sep 7

Here's a scenario that someone should ask RFK Jr. about: an under-65 person with no major health conditions who is providing some in-person support for an older family member undergoing treatments that weaken the immune system. Can that person get a COVID shot?

It's me, and I can't.

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kim yi dionne (she/her) @dadakim.bsky.social · Sep 5

Great job at the Pew Research Center for a Computational Social Science Assistant: pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Center...

Computational Social Science Assistant, Data Labs

Position Summary The Computational Social Science Assistant works with other staff at Data Labs to produce original research that expands on the work of the Pew Research Center using new methods, data...

pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com

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IE Political Science @iepolisci.bsky.social · Sep 5

🚨🚨 We’re hiring! 🚨🚨

We have 3 lines open in CP, IR and IPE — all tenure-track.

We offer competitive salaries, a 2:1 teaching load, in a friendly (and fully in English) environment, at one of Europe’s most sought-after cities.

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Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte @turnbulldugarte.com · Sep 5

Radical right accommodation really does not work.

New paper out with this exceptionally talented team
@katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk

doi.org/10.31235/osf...

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CNN @cnn.com · Sep 5

BREAKING: US job growth slowed to a crawl in August, adding only 22,000 positions. It's another indication the US labor market is stagnating.

Follow live updates: https://cnn.it/4nlRiu9

America’s job market flashes yet another warning sign about the economy | CNN Business

The US economy added just 22,000 jobs in August and the unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, the highest since 2021.

cnn.it

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Kevin Baron 🧙🏻‍♂️😈☠️⚾️ @kevinbaron.bsky.social · Sep 4

Oooooh…look what was waiting for me when I got home. I’ve been hearing/reading about this from @juliaazari.bsky.social for some time, and after reading part of the first chapter, I gotta say I think this book hits at the absolute right moment. Thanks Julia!

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Reuters @reuters.com · Sep 4

Medical groups call on US Health Secretary Kennedy to step down reut.rs/4neBOrN

Medical groups call on US Health Secretary Kennedy to step down

Multiple health groups and medical associations called on U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to step down in a joint statement on Wednesday, saying he was disregarding decades of lifesaving science and reversing medical progress.

reut.rs

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