The Promise of Text, Audio, and Video Data for the Study of US Local Politics and Federalism

Abstract

A large-scale study of US local policymaking has long been hindered by a lack of centralized data sources. Our own project, LocalView, supplements data collection efforts by creating the largest existing database of local government meeting transcripts, audio, and video yet released. In this article, we describe promises, implications, and best practices for using nontabular sources of meeting data in the study of federalism. Throughout, we argue that these new sources of data allow scholars to ask new kinds of research questions. We demonstrate this potential with an empirical application focused on the use of national partisan language in local government meetings. We find that nationally salient partisan phrases are common in local policymaking discussions (especially in large cities), although prominent national terms vary drastically in how often they are used at the local level. Finally, the slant of partisan language (i.e., the amount of partisan language that is identifiably Democratic or Republican) across local governments is correlated with local partisan preferences.