Blog: The Monkey Cage

I am fascinated by this result from the latest HuffPo-Patch poll of Republican party elites in the early primary and caucus states: Nearly three-fourths, 74%, of these party insiders believe that “can beat Obama” describes Cain “very well” or “somewhat well.” That’s more confidence than I would expect. I would be interested to know why […]

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Matt Yglesias and Tyler Cowen argue that Italy’s economic problems have a lot to do with the country’s reliance on small businesses. Matt: Jared Bernstein cautions against the over-lionization of small businesses in the New York Times. I agree. The best evidence for skepticism continues, I think, to me the fact that if small firms […]

Tunisia’s transition now appears deeper and more robust than the nearest regional analogue: Egypt.

In our continuing series of election reports, we are pleased to welcome the following post-election report on Sunday’s Swiss Parliamentary election from Sean Müller and Paolo Dardanelli, both of the University of Kent. [NOTE: An incorrect, slightly different version of this post was originally posted. This version now reflects the correct version. Apologies – JT.] […]

Below are some thoughts on Qaddafi’s death and his decision not to seek exile from Barbara Walter, a professor of international relations at the University of California at San Diego. Professor Walter is a renowned expert on internal wars and terrorism and has published several outstanding books and articles on these topics as well as […]

Seema Mehta presents an amazing list of errors in recent speeches of congressmember and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann. What’s scary here is not so much that there’s a U.S. congresswoman running around who can’t seem to distinguish between truth and fiction—-after all, my very own congressman is reportedly a criminal, and I can only assume […]

My new post at 538 looks at whether motherhood affects political attitudes, including attitudes toward marijuana. It speaks to the trend toward acceptance of marijuana and what, if anything, might slow that trend. It seems logical, as Megan McArdle has suggested, that becoming a parent might make you less supportive of legalized marijuana. I draw […]

Americans are largely unaware of many public policies.