Author Archives: gronkep

More from the department that eats together …

It’s no wonder sometimes political science at Reed is described as the department of good food.  Here are pictures courtesy of Mariela Szwarcberg’s upper division comparative politics classes:

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Celebrating the Tea Party

The final reading for Political Science 332 was Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson’s book, The Tea Party and the Remaking of American Conservatism. The students convinced me to have a real tea party to add some frivolity to our discussion … finish reading Celebrating the Tea Party

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Why focus on the groups who voted for Obama? Why not on the groups that didn’t?

There have been a flurry of analyses in recent days about the surprising level of support Obama garnered from various groups in the population.  If we were to read the commentary, at least four different subgroups of the population were … finish reading Why focus on the groups who voted for Obama? Why not on the groups that didn’t?

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One political geek’s reaction to Lincoln

I watched Lincoln last night in a packed Moreland Theater.  A bit of two hours late,  I found myself happy that our local theater was actually packed, but ambivalent about Spielberg’s biopic. I’ll leave it to film buffs like my … finish reading One political geek’s reaction to Lincoln

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Election night guide

Poll Closing Times (EST) (Battlegrounds in bold): 7:00 pm: GA, IN, KY, SC, VT, VA 7:30 pm: NC, OH, WV 8:00 pm: AL, CT, DE, DC, FL, IL, ME, MD, MA, MS, MO, NH, NJ, OK, PA, RI, TN 8:30 pm: AR 9:00 pm: AZ, CO, KS, … finish reading Election night guide

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Early Voting in Florida among Democrats

Early in person voting by Democrats in Florida, courtesy of Jacob Canter, Reed junior.

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The Constitutionality of Early Voting

(Crossposted from Earlyvoting.net) Just got this email: Dear Prof. Gronke,  I, and my colleagues, have been unable to satisfactorily answer this question, “If by law voting shall be held on the “first Tuesday after the first Monday in November” how is … finish reading The Constitutionality of Early Voting

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Nate Silver and the Binomial Theorem

There has been a lot of chatter about the meaning of Nate Silver’s current election forecast. Unfortunately, what the commentary reveals is less about Silver and more about statistical illiteracy.  Silver’s model is complex, but the basic logic is quite … finish reading Nate Silver and the Binomial Theorem

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A gentle guide to elections data analysis

A hat tip for today’s posting goes to Charles Stewart of MIT, whose “Political Science Laboratory” course inspired me to engage my introductory statistics students in data management using real data sources. Regular readers of this blog may have seen graphics plotting … finish reading A gentle guide to elections data analysis

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Partisanship, Race, and Early Voting in North Carolina

(This post is co-authored with Jacob Canter, Reed sophomore and EVIC research assistant and is crossposted from earlyvoting.net) The early ballots are beginning to pile up in North Carolina, and we can finally start to discern some patterns of turnout … finish reading Partisanship, Race, and Early Voting in North Carolina

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