No abstract

We propose a methodological strategy that addresses some of the widespread criticisms of survey research. Traditional survey research has, to a great extent, neglected the role of contested concepts in politics and respondents' subjectivity. Our mix of methods—including conceptual analysis, Q-methodology, and survey research—enables us to measure people's subjective understandings of contested concepts while allowing us to reap the benefits of survey research. In two case studies, one on patriotism and the other on participatory citizenship, we demonstrate that the mixed method more accu rately measures respondents' subjectivity and leads to greater predictive abil ity through more accurate measures.

This article examines terrorism as a context in the major newsmagazines’ coverage of Iraq in the prewar period. Contexts and associated issues help create news frames, which can affect judgments of events and policies. This investigation relies on the issues of Time and Newsweek published in September 2002 and from the first issue of January 2003 through the March 24, 2003, issue and includes analysis of the issues’ cover art, graphics within news stories, and Iraq and terrorism stories. During this period, newsmagazines frequently juxtaposed terrorism and Iraq and used graphics that linked Iraq to terrorism and terrorists.

No abstract

In 2018, Maine became the first American state to use ranked choice voting in statewide and congressional elections. In a decentralized system of election administration local officials play an important role implementing new voting rules. We examine the implementation of ranked choice voting based on a survey of municipal clerks and interviews with several election officials in Maine. We test hypotheses derived from policy implementation theory in assessing election officials' evaluations of ranked choice voting. We find that most municipal clerks in our sample are not enthusiastic about implementing ranked choice voting and do not want to continue its use in Maine. In addition, there are strong partisan divisions, with Democratic clerks offering much more positive assessments of ranked choice voting than Republican clerks. We also find differences in voter education efforts across jurisdictions. The findings raise concerns about the implementation of ranked choice voting in Maine.