Politics

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy will host a live event to shed light on the mechanics and nuance of network election calls. “The Media’s Role on Election Night” will be on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 6 p.m. in Langford Auditorium and examine how these calls are made and how this unofficial system grew into the role it plays today.    Read More

For the first time since the Vanderbilt Poll–Nashville was established in 2015, more than half of respondents say they believe the city is headed in the wrong direction. Davidson County voters are concerned about affordable housing and crime, but give positive marks to Mayor John Cooper and other local leaders. Read More

Join the Center for Effective Lawmaking for a roundtable discussion touching on questions of race, representation and policymaking in the contemporary Congress. The event will be Thursday, March 31, at 6 p.m. CT at the Student Life Center Commodore Ballroom. Read More

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy hosted a virtual event, “The Hill Staffers Who Make Congress Go Round,” on Thursday, Sept. 30, at 12:30 p.m. CT. Read More

Public opinion polls ahead of the 2020 election were the most inaccurate in a generation, according to Josh Clinton, Abby and Jon Winkelried Chair and professor of political science, who recently served as chair of a special task force convened by the American Association for Public Opinion Research specifically to evaluate polling. Read More

Divisive party politics continue to dominate attitudes among Tennessee residents on key social issues, including the state’s response to COVID-19, willingness to get vaccinated and questions about whether the 2020 presidential election was “stolen,” according to the latest Vanderbilt University poll. Read More

Davidson County voters have slightly less confidence in their elected officials and core institutions compared to last year; however, a majority of Nashville residents still think the city is “generally headed in the right direction,” according to the latest Vanderbilt Poll-Nashville. Read More

How do television networks predict election outcomes? The virtual event “A Peek Inside the NBC Decision Desk: Election 2020” scheduled for Friday, April 16, at 2 p.m. CT will provide an overview. Read More

Research Snapshot: Eunji Kim finds that politics have become more like sports than ever before: It is easier to watch partisan news when your political party is winning. Est. reading time: 75 seconds. Read More

A panel of Vanderbilt political science faculty explored the factors that led to the Jan. 6 riot in a virtual event, “Dissent, Disorder and Democracy: What Led to the U.S. Capitol Insurrection.” Hosted by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, the panel also engaged with the event’s serious implications for the strength of the nation's democracy. Read More

Former Vice President Al Gore and the 66th Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice each will provide timely conversations with Vanderbilt’s Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian and biographer, on Thursday, Jan. 14, to support the debut of the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy. Read More

After months of exploring how higher education could play a meaningful and active role in bridging longstanding partisan fissures, Vanderbilt University today launched the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, which aims to strengthen the nation’s democratic institutions by advancing evidence-based research in the national discourse on unity. Read More

Amitav Ghosh, a best-selling author whose work puts Asia at the center of global history, culture and environmental challenges, joins Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos on "The Zeppos Report." Read More

Best-selling author and political commentator Chris Matthews joins Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos for the latest edition of "The Zeppos Report" podcast. Read More

LAPOP research shows that crime prevalence impacts economic progress in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras Read More

The new Center for Effective Lawmaking, which studies the causes and consequences of the legislative effectiveness of members of Congress, will be introduced in Washington on Tuesday, Sept. 26. The center is a joint effort by the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University. Read More

Issues of race and government are explored in law professor Dan Sharfstein's new book, "Thunder in the Mountains." Read More

New algorithm can help identify vulnerable polling stations and spot tampering after the fact. Read More

Vanderbilt Central Library will host a panel discussion on the current state of news, fake news, propaganda and more to be moderated by political scientist John Geer Feb. 22. Read More

A new Republican president could mean a challenge to retain federal employees at government agencies that skew liberal Read More