Monthly Archives: April 2012

Do statistics (like absentee rates) matter in reelection campaigns?

I encourage voters to use these statistics to supplement other information, not to supplant it. I calculate a lot of statistics about the Utah legislature. Lately, I’ve noticed various statistics being used in some of the nomination battles that are … Continue reading

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What Issues Most Influence Approval of the Legislature?

Issues related to schools seem to be driving what people think about the legislature. This analysis was performed by Robert Richards, a student research fellow at BYU’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, in collaboration with CSED faculty. … Continue reading

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Why are Liljenquist’s former colleagues split on his candidacy?

Liljenquist’s former colleagues are evenly split on his candidacy, but it’s hard to explain the split using ideology. Today, Dan Liljenquist announced that 13 of the 22 Republicans in the state senate have endorsed his challenge against Orrin Hatch. I … Continue reading

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The Utah Priorities Survey: Top issues in 2010 and 2012

The list of top ten issues Utah voters are most concerned with was mostly filled with themes we’ve seen throughout the last few elections This is a guest post by Morgan Lyon Cotti, Senior Research Analyst at the Utah Foundation. … Continue reading

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The Utah legislature passes far more bills than Congress

We should expect fewer laws out of the Utah legislature than out of Congress, yet we see the opposite. As I prepped some lecture data for my Congress course today, I was surprised at something I hadn’t noticed before: Congress … Continue reading

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The Tea Party’s declining favorability

“Unfavorable” views of the Tea Party movement have jumped from 22% in February 2010 to 51% in March 2012, mostly at the expense of “don’t know” respondents. The Tribune ran an article over the weekend about the Tea Party’s (waning) … Continue reading

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