Vanderbilt

Joe Biden, a "sensitive soul, equal parts poetry and politics" represents more than the sum of his past policy positions to Black voters. The President-elect's "simple, direct, yet profound humanity" and personal and honest experience with profound, soul-testing grief have cemented the bond between most of the Black electorate and Biden. Read More

Elections indicate who wins, but not why. Public opinion polling, done right, remains the best way of obtaining citizens’ opinions. While some suggest two consecutive polling “fails” in presidential elections destroy trust in the process, policy makers in a representative democracy should pause before branding all polling data with the same mark. Read More

The poor response of the federal government during the current pandemic, including the public health agencies, illustrates the importance of an effective bureaucracy. Yet both parties have paid too little attention to government capacity. This short paper explains why Republicans and Democrats have underinvested in the departments and agencies of the federal government with focus on persistent myths about the bureaucracy. Read More