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We are professors of political science sharing academic research relevant to Utah. Posts are not peer reviewed and may discuss work in progress that is subject to future revision. Learn more. Each post reflects only its author’s views.
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Author Archives: Adam Brown
Is Jim Matheson a liberal or a moderate?
Matheson’s Congressional votes often go against partisan expectations. Jim Matheson presents himself to voters as a moderate willing to work with both parties. Critics from the right contend that he’s really a liberal at heart who will promptly ally with … Continue reading
Posted in Everything
Tagged congress, democrat, ideology, jason chaffetz, jim matheson, nominate, republic, rob bishop
3 Comments
Comparing the USU and Key/BYU election prediction polls
Both polls agree that Republicans will sweep Utah’s statewide races decisively. We saw something unusual this week: Two well-designed polls, conducted independently (not by campaigns), in the field at the same time. Damon Cann published the USU pre-election poll last … Continue reading
Posted in Everything
Tagged barack obama, jim matheson, Key Research, mia love, mitt romney, orrin hatch, polls, scott howell, voting
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Comparing the USU and Key/BYU election prediction polls
Redistricting is not expected to change the partisan balance of Congress
They conclude that Utah did not experience a partisan gerrymander of its US House seats. In a painstaking state-by-state analysis of all 435 U.S. House seats, some sharp political scientists predict that the 2011 redistricting round will have no net … Continue reading
Posted in Everything
Tagged congress, legislature, partisanship, redistricting, representation, republic
3 Comments
Cage match: Janice Fisher and Fred Cox
Representatives Cox and Fisher disagreed 54% of the time on close votes. The new legislative district maps adopted a few months back placed two Utah legislators into the same district: Republican Fred Cox and Democrat Janice Fisher. Now that both … Continue reading
Posted in Everything
Tagged cage match, campaigns, ideology, legislature, representation, roll call votes, voting
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Cage match: Janice Fisher and Fred Cox
Utah legislators serve longer than they used to
Legislators today stick around longer than legislators in the past. Bob Bernick reports today that retirements and nomination upsets will bring 15 freshmen to the 75-member Utah House of Representatives. November may bring us even more freshmen. I reported last … Continue reading
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
Posted in Everything
Tagged dan liljenquist, ideology, legislature, nominate, nominations, orrin hatch
2 Comments
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
Posted in Everything
Tagged delegates, education, immigration, partisanship, polls, tea party, utah foundation
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The Utah Priorities Survey: Top issues in 2010 and 2012
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
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
Posted in Everything
Tagged commentary, polls, tea party
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The Tea Party’s declining favorability
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 →