Jack Santucci
@jacksantucci.bsky.social
2.4K followers 750 following 2.6K posts
Political scientist jacksantucci.com
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Reposted by Jack Santucci
johnsides.bsky.social
Under Biden, there was no thermostatic shift in public opinion about the size of government. The public stayed relatively liberal. Take attitudes toward the government's role in health care:
Reposted by Jack Santucci
reuning.bsky.social
New paper with @hjghassell.bsky.social and @michaelheseltine.bsky.social out in @bjpols.bsky.social.

We develop measures of voter perceptions of candidate ideology and candidate messaging ideology and find that perception's are related to what candidates say www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Plot showing perception of voter ideology of candidates overtime. It is separated by House and Senate. Republicans are drifting slightly to be more conservative, Democrats are mostly staying in one place. Plot showing messaging ideology of candidates overtime. It is separated by House and Senate. There is increasing separation between parties over time, with Republicans becoming messaging more moderately during the Trump era and then shifting to the right during Biden.
Reposted by Jack Santucci
ryandane.bsky.social
This paper was a long time in the making, one of my favorites I’ve ever worked on, and is now live at SPPQ! doi.org/10.1017/spq....
Is Gerrymandering Poisoning the Well of Democracy? Evaluating the Relationship between Redistricting and Citizens' Attitudes

Ryan D. Williamson and Florian Justwan

Redistricting is often a hotly contested affair within states as the party in power attempts to maximize its chances for electoral success through injecting partisanship into the process. Previous works have evaluated how different redistricting practices can influence elections, but little is known about how redistricting can impact citizen attitudes toward government. Using an original survey with a unique experiment, we evaluate the relationship between how redistricting is performed and how satisfied citizens are with the state of democracy in the United States. We find that the mere perception of redistricting being done in a partisan manner leads to decreased levels of system support. Further-more, our models show that independent redistricting commissions tend to reduce the perceived prevalence of gerrymandering and boost citizens' evaluations of the democratic process.
jacksantucci.bsky.social
It’s a big constraint. Hard to do at home.
jacksantucci.bsky.social
Self-limiting fear of the oven!
Reposted by Jack Santucci
egojunk.bsky.social
Incumbents' financial advantage has declined 25-50% over the last decade in the U.S. Corporate PACs still love incumbents but small donors love their party more. New paper. www.andrewbenjaminhall.com/Myers_et_al_...
For decades, American legislators have enjoyed a huge financial edge over their challengers when running for reelection. 

But our new paper shows that this advantage has eroded sharply—falling 25–50% over the last decade as elections have polarized and nationalized.

Key findings:

--Individual donors no longer care about incumbency. This decline is driven by small-dollar donors, who now give almost entirely along partisan lines regardless of who is in office and who isn't. 

--Corporate PACs still love incumbents. In fact, their preference for incumbents has remained steady, or even increased, as they continue to seek access to policymakers of both parties.

Taken together, these shifts reveal a campaign finance landscape that is increasingly shaped by partisanship on one side and strategic investment on the other.

Check out the full paper linked below.
jacksantucci.bsky.social
Fusion is a good single-seat complement to a PR system that presumes multiple parties fielding joint lists. Thanks to PD for this work and for inviting my feedback!
protectdemocracy.org
NEW: How fusion voting—an American tradition allowing candidates to appear on multiple party ballot lines—can bolster efforts to reform our broken politics. It's time to revive this pathway to better representation. Summary is threaded plus full report is 🔗: protectdemocracy.org/work/fusion-...
Fusion as a Pathway to Proportional Representation
Lessons from Global Experience and American Electoral Heritage
Reposted by Jack Santucci
lindaclassical.bsky.social
Three reasons to celebrate today: 1st Day of October, International Coffee Day and International Music Day. And WETA Classical greets the sun with Classical Sunrise at 7:04am. Four reasons.
Reposted by Jack Santucci
francescobromo.bsky.social
It's been a long time coming... José Cheibub and I have a new @thejop.bsky.social article! All the questions you've ever had (and were too afraid to ask) about caretaker periods in parliamentary democracies won't be answered here, but it's a start!

www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Full-Power Cabinets and Caretaker Administrations in Parliamentary Democracies, 1945-2024 | The Journal of Politics: Vol 0, No ja
www.journals.uchicago.edu
Reposted by Jack Santucci
cambup-polsci.cambridge.org
A paper from #APSA2025 has been uploaded to @apsa-preprints.bsky.social -

Real-World Sanctioning of Stigmatized Political Preferences - https://cup.org/4mF6MbO

- @amaliaab.bsky.social & @valentimvicente.bsky.social

#preprint
Logo of APSA Preprints with the text "APSA PREPRINTS" in green and blue, below which is the text "American Political Science Association" and "Comparative Politics" in green.
jacksantucci.bsky.social
Why does the viral reactionary-centrist article use a capitalization scheme that makes me reach for my red pen?

More seriously, the “move right to win votes” frame isn’t helpful because it overlooks a now-empirically-demonstrated second dimension of opinion mobilization.
Reposted by Jack Santucci
Reposted by Jack Santucci
jandrewsinclair.bsky.social
A theory. Everyone who cares about politics on bluesky ALSO needs to make a habit out of posting about their other interests and hobbies. Making bluesky work for many communities of interest will increase the political reach of the experts here.