In May we highlighted research demonstrating that individuals with lower levels of education were more likely to believe common conspiracy theories. Two new surveys have found that belief in such theories is also tied to religiosity, with white evangelical Protestants much more likely to believe in even the most absurd conspiracies. A recent Economist/YouGov. survey found that almost 70% of white evangelicals believe former President Donald Trump's various lies about "million

Bloomberg News contacted prosecutors in all 50 states to determine how many cases of voter fraud they had found since the November 2018 election and including the recent presidential election. Despite the hundreds of millions of votes in the last two federal election cycles, state prosecutors have found a total of about 200 instances of voter fraud, and at least one of those concerned changing votes in a high school homecoming contest. In their report, Bloomberg correctly poi

There are few public expenditures that would generate a greater return on investment than President Joe Biden's Early Childhood Education proposal. Biden campaigned on providing pre-K education to every 3- and 4-year-old in the United States and it's a core component of his "American Families Plan." Research tells us that the plan would improve educational outcomes, create a more just society, and enable parents of young children to participate fully in the workforce. Moreove

If you are wondering why anti-vax rhetoric is so prevalent among Republicans, a new survey from the Gallup organization should help to explain the phenomenon. Trust in science has tanked over the last few decades among those that identify as Republicans, falling from 72% in 1975 to just 45% today. Among Democrats, 67% had a "great deal" of trust in 1975 and it has risen to 79% today. Gallup's results are quite remarkable, and a bit scary. Individuals with lower trust in scien

In his book Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain suggested that, ‘travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.'” As with many things, Twain was correct. Research has demonstrated that individuals that travel extensively become more trusting of foreigners. I suspect that man

Political gerrymandering is the process used by state legislatures to provide an advantage to a political party in state and federal elections by creating voting districts favorable to their candidates. It is, by definition, a vehicle to make our democratic system less representative of the people's will. Every ten years, after the census, the states redraw voting districts and the process is controlled by the party with the majority in the state legislature at that time. Mor