Emotion is a big part of how you assess risk – and why it’s so hard to be objective about pandemic precautions

People tend to overestimate or underestimate risk. The pandemic brings this into stark relief. Picture someone wearing an N95 mask while walking their dog through a deserted park. Contrast that with someone entering a crowded bar maskless in an area with high coronavirus transmission rates.
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Crime, Police Reform, and Law Enforcement: Americans Agree More Than You Might Think

About 65% of Americans are currently dissatisfied with the nation’s policies to reduce or control crime, more than any time in the 21st century. This comes as President Biden’s approval rating on crime sits at 38% and the percentage of Americans that think crime is “extremely serious” sits at a 20-year high.
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Republicans and Democrats Both Support Social Security — and Even Agree on Some Reforms

Social Security is sometimes described as the “third rail of American politics.” It got this name in the 1980s because it was so popular among both Republicans and Democrats that if any politician dared to “touch” Social Security and cut it substantially, the politician’s career would...
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Congress’s Most Famous Bipartisan Roadtrip: The Friendship of Beto O’Rourke and Will Hurd

Divisions in Washington, D.C. can seem bitter, so it can be helpful to remember more positive bipartisan experiences that began only a few years ago and continued afterward. A two-day road trip made by two Texas congressmen from different political parties from San Antonio to Washington,...
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Why do People Believe in Conspiracy Theories? What the Leading Research Says

From the Center This viewpoint is from a writer rated Center. The coronavirus pandemic led to the emergence of conspiracy theories about the origins and nature of the new virus. In part reflecting intense political polarization in the United States, conspiracy groups like QAnon have risen...
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More than Memorization: A New Civics Education Vision May Reduce Polarization

In the United States today, politics seems to be less about governing and more about finding the best way to demean the other side. The result: a partisan divide and an epidemic of affective polarization. Affective polarization is defined as “the extent to which citizens feel more...
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