University of Massachusetts Amherst

Search Google Appliance

Links

News

UMass Amherst poll conducted a few months ago (after Thomas’ trips financed by Crow first came to light) asked whether the Supreme Court should have a formal code of ethics like other federal courts. The University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll found that Americans are of two minds when it comes to the policy of affirmative action. A plurality of Americans – 42% – agree that the policy should be discontinued and race and ethnicity should no longer factor into such decisions, while 33% support the continued use of such criteria in admissions decisions. (CNN, 9/3/23; News Office release)

Raymond La Raja and Brian Schaffner, political scientists at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and Tufts, write in their 2015 book, “Campaign Finance and Political Polarization: When Purists Prevail”:

The public intensely dislikes how campaigns are financed in the United States. We can understand why. The system of private financing seems rigged to favor special interests and wealthy donors. Much of the reform community has responded by calling for tighter restrictions on private financing of elections to push the system toward “small donor democracy” and various forms of public financing. These strategies seem to make sense and, in principle, we are not opposed to them.

(New York Times, 8/30/23)

Charli Carpenter, Professor of Political Science and Legal Studies, Human Security Lab Director, and graduate students Jenna Norosky and Camryn Hughes have briefed officials from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor regarding the lab’s recent report on Ukraine’s travel ban imposed on civilian men in the aftermath of the Russian invasion last year. Read More >

 

An article on housing and the influx of migrants to Massachusetts cites an April UMass Amherst Poll on residents considering leaving the commonwealth. The poll found that 39% of respondents said they considered leaving the state, up from 35% the previous fall. (CommonWealth Magazine, 8/10/23; News Office release)

A recent UMass Poll is cited in an article about the apathy and political divide seen following Trump’s indictment for the Jan. 6 events. The poll reports that the number of people who say “it’s time to move on” increased from 44 percent in 2021 to 50 percent in 2023. (Vox, 8/2/23; News Office release

 

UMass Amherst professors of political science Tatishe Nteta and Jesse Rhodes along with graduate student Adam Eichen write an opinion piece in Newsweek about "Why are Americans so willing to consider age limits for service in positions of national leadership? Eighty-one-year old Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recently "froze" during a weekly Republican news conference and was escorted away from journalists. This incident comes on the heels of growing concerns regarding the mental acuity and physical ability of Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, who at 90 years old, missed nearly three months and over 90 Senate votes as she recovered from a serious case of the shingles. (Newsweek, 08/07/23)

Paul Collins, professor of legal studies and political science, comments on new charges facing former President Donald Trump:“If the government can prove this aspect of the case, it will be exceptionally difficult for the former president to mount a defense." (Salon, 7/29/23)
 

Seth Goldman, communication, and Tatishe Nteta, political science--on a research team with Linda Tropp, psychological and brain sciences--received an Institute of Diversity Sciences Seed Grant to measure how “majority minority” narratives of rising diversity are interpreted to determine whether it encourages greater allyship and collective action, or greater interracial division and factions. (UMass News 7/20/23)

 

Tatishe Nteta, provost professor of political science and director of the UMass Poll, comments in an article about how Gov. Maura Healey has used Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a political foil to highlight policy differences between the two states. “She is attempting to establish a national brand for herself. This is a means to do so, to be part of the national conversation, by still trumpeting Massachusetts,” Nteta says. (The Boston Globe, 7/16/23)

An article on the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by the three remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre cites a national UMass Amherst Poll on reparations. The poll, released in January, found six in 10 respondents oppose a federal program of reparations for descendants of slaves. (Yahoo! News, 7/11/23; News Office release)

Pages