Yesterday, I spoke with Adam Hertzman of the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh. We spoke of ways of combating antisemitism in the Alleghenies. Conversely, there were 4 busloads that traveled to the rally in support Israel in Washington from Pittsburgh on November 13. According to a survey by Anti Defamation League and NORC (national opinion research […]

I came across an article in The Nation Magazine titled “Stats Bros” Are Sucking the Life Out of Politics by Leif Weatherby and had to comment. The “Stats Bros” he is talking about are media gurus like Steve Kornacki (pictured above) at MSNBC and Nate Silver at ABC’s 538. Mostly, they use poll data to […]

Some pundits have written off Trump’s reelection chances due to his handling.  They often point to the results of one poll to reinforce that conclusion.  I would argue that it is better to look at the aggregate of polls to see trends.   The Real Clear Politics (RCP) average of polls includes Republican polling firms like […]

I saw this article by a Julian Routh of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette where he reports on a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Cook Political Report of voters in the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin called The Blue Wall Project.  He highlights their responses to questions on implementing a Medicare for All […]

Every year US News and World Report ranks the top colleges and hospitals in the US.  Those that are ranked high use these results to market their institutions to potential students and/or patients.  I’ve been asked by a friend to comment on the method that US News and World Report uses to create the annual […]

Looking at Juan Cole’s blog Informed Comment I came across this graph showing the preferences of the four major religious groups (Islam, Judaism, Protestant, and Catholic) in the US for the top 5 Presidential candidates from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.  The survey was conducted before Marco Rubio dropped out of the race.  […]