Recent research efforts on policy innovation and diffusion largely have focused upon policymaking at the state government level. In this article we seek to develop an understanding of the ways momentum for policy change can be generated among receptive local governments. We use gun control policymaking within California to illustrate how local government characteristics, the presence of regional associations, and the establishment of interest groups may lead to policy development and diffusion. We also identify linkages between interest groups, focusing events, and the successful use of a new image of gun violence as a public health problem, yielding insights into strategies that may be used successfully to promote policy change.

Despite evidence of abuse and violence against U.S. elected officeholders at the federal, state, and local levels, to date, no political science research has investigated the frequency, channels, and correlates of this phenomenon. Here, we surveyed mayors in U.S. cities with populations above 30,000 and found that mayors face physical violence and psychological abuse at rates equal to or greater than the general workforce, social media are the most common channels of these actions, and mayors in all types of cities experience violence and abuse. Nevertheless, mayors who are younger, female, in strong mayor systems, and in larger cities were more likely to be affected than their counterparts. Finally, with the exception of gender, the factors associated with greater likelihood of psychological abuse are not the same factors associated with experiences of physical violence.

ObjectiveWe analyze public views of the Supreme Court following the confirmation hearings of Brett M. Kavanaugh.MethodsWe distributed an online survey days after the Senate confirmed Kavanaugh's appointment.ResultsSupreme Court legitimacy was weak following the hearings and perceptions of legitimacy varied based on partisanship, gender, and race. However, legitimacy was not strongly related to support for Kavanaugh. Furthermore, respondents consistently ranked political characteristics as the least important attributes of a nominee. Still, those satisfied with the Senate confirmation process ranked political attributes as more important.ConclusionOur findings portend some challenges for the Court in the wake of the Kavanaugh confirmation. At the same time, Supreme Court legitimacy was only weakly tied to Kavanaugh, and legal qualities and moral character were more important to the public than a nominee's political attributes.

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Scholars have devoted considerable attention to analyzing the social construction of AIDS. To explore the politics of AIDS policymaking, this research uses Schneider and Ingram's (1993) theory of the social construction of target populations to evaluate the U.S. Senate's response to AIDS between 1987 and 1992. Our study found that Schneider and Ingram's model provides important insights into how political processes affect AIDS policy design. While our data did not strictly conform to all of the model's theoretical expectations, the data provided evidence confirming its predictions about broad patterns in the allocation of both substantive and symbolic policy benefits and burdens to different target populations.