Emily Thorson
@emilythorson.bsky.social
Political science, Syracuse University
Information effects, misperceptions, egg sandwiches
My book is "The Invented State: Policy Misperceptions in the American Public"
Information effects, misperceptions, egg sandwiches
My book is "The Invented State: Policy Misperceptions in the American Public"
Love a concise Amazon review.
November 10, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Love a concise Amazon review.
Guys today is a red-letter day for bad survey questions. Look at this lovely double negative that just rolled in!
August 20, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Guys today is a red-letter day for bad survey questions. Look at this lovely double negative that just rolled in!
for everyone teaching survey design this fall, great news: a new terrible question example just dropped! (this is from a real survey I just took) 😱
August 20, 2025 at 2:08 PM
for everyone teaching survey design this fall, great news: a new terrible question example just dropped! (this is from a real survey I just took) 😱
From a Washington Post reader survey I just took. What a bizarre list of job titles. Also I love the idea that it's critically important to distinguish between the Presidents and Vice Presidents among their readership. TOTALLY different news preferences.
July 16, 2025 at 7:19 PM
From a Washington Post reader survey I just took. What a bizarre list of job titles. Also I love the idea that it's critically important to distinguish between the Presidents and Vice Presidents among their readership. TOTALLY different news preferences.
Reposted by Emily Thorson
great call — more experiments and within-subject panels / less emphasis on what the national topline happens to be today while worrying about whether it got the sample right feels like a worthwhile trade for the public polling industry
Rare for a public poll, we did a survey experiment to test whether priming respondents about the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia impacts support for Trump's broader immigration agenda. It does. Support for blanket deportations fell 20 points after hearing about Garcia's case.
May 14, 2025 at 1:02 PM
great call — more experiments and within-subject panels / less emphasis on what the national topline happens to be today while worrying about whether it got the sample right feels like a worthwhile trade for the public polling industry
I'm pretty over the doomsaying/complaining about AI and student learning and interested in moving on to the "solutions" part. In-class writing (by hand!) exercises, non-generic paper topics, etc. We can adapt! It might even be fun!
May 7, 2025 at 1:01 PM
I'm pretty over the doomsaying/complaining about AI and student learning and interested in moving on to the "solutions" part. In-class writing (by hand!) exercises, non-generic paper topics, etc. We can adapt! It might even be fun!
There is NOTHING on the front page of Fox News about the stock market crash. Nothing at all.
April 3, 2025 at 3:28 PM
There is NOTHING on the front page of Fox News about the stock market crash. Nothing at all.
Pretty horrifying how well the "need for chaos" survey battery describes the Trump/Musk administration's current approach to governing. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
April 1, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Pretty horrifying how well the "need for chaos" survey battery describes the Trump/Musk administration's current approach to governing. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
This is why every political scientist you know has been in a state of panic for the past week. This isn't about policy disagreement, it's about the Constitution being destroyed before our very eyes.
My depressing thought for the day: it seems increasingly inevitable that quite soon, Trump decides to simply disregard a court finding that some of his actions are illegal or unconstitutional. Impeachment is attempted & fails thanks to loyal Republicans. At which point there are no good options.
February 5, 2025 at 2:57 PM
This is why every political scientist you know has been in a state of panic for the past week. This isn't about policy disagreement, it's about the Constitution being destroyed before our very eyes.
Imagine: in his first week in office, Biden issues an executive order to cut all military R&D. He tells George Soros to carry it out, giving him access to the personal financial information of all military employees. Thousands of soldiers and contractors lose their jobs. This. Would. Be. ILLEGAL. 🧵
February 5, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Imagine: in his first week in office, Biden issues an executive order to cut all military R&D. He tells George Soros to carry it out, giving him access to the personal financial information of all military employees. Thousands of soldiers and contractors lose their jobs. This. Would. Be. ILLEGAL. 🧵
Reposted by Emily Thorson
This is one of the reasons even “unlikely to succeed” resistance moves (protests, law suits, etc) have value at the moment.
The authors outline some strategies for overcoming indexing and getting the media's attention: (1) outsider counter-spin: protests, personal stories of how this affects Americans (2) on-the-ground footage (aka recordings of Elon's goons/USAID chaos) (3) investigative reporting/leaks.
February 3, 2025 at 1:46 PM
This is one of the reasons even “unlikely to succeed” resistance moves (protests, law suits, etc) have value at the moment.
"When the Press Fails," published in 1990, predicts exactly the situation we're in now. Because the Democrats are largely silent about the Billionaire's Coup, the media don't have "two sides" to cover and so default to repeating whatever line the government feeds them. This is called "indexing."
February 3, 2025 at 1:43 PM
"When the Press Fails," published in 1990, predicts exactly the situation we're in now. Because the Democrats are largely silent about the Billionaire's Coup, the media don't have "two sides" to cover and so default to repeating whatever line the government feeds them. This is called "indexing."
The sparse news coverage that exists of the Billionaire's Coup is, frankly, incomprehensible to a lay audience. "Treasury payment system" is meaningless jargon to most people. Tell people in plain language "Here is what Trump and Musk are doing, and here is how it affects Americans."
February 3, 2025 at 1:13 PM
The sparse news coverage that exists of the Billionaire's Coup is, frankly, incomprehensible to a lay audience. "Treasury payment system" is meaningless jargon to most people. Tell people in plain language "Here is what Trump and Musk are doing, and here is how it affects Americans."
Hey Republicans in Congress: it’s your very last chance to go down in history as heroes, not villains. Get on the group chat, make a plan, stick together, turn this around.
February 2, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Hey Republicans in Congress: it’s your very last chance to go down in history as heroes, not villains. Get on the group chat, make a plan, stick together, turn this around.
Reposted by Emily Thorson
Trump is openly violating the law on a vast and unprecedented scale and everyone is acting like it's normal. NPR had a long story about finding a rare shrew. NYT said he was disregarding "legal niceties." This is an attack on the Constitution as profound as the attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
January 31, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Trump is openly violating the law on a vast and unprecedented scale and everyone is acting like it's normal. NPR had a long story about finding a rare shrew. NYT said he was disregarding "legal niceties." This is an attack on the Constitution as profound as the attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
Reposted by Emily Thorson
Ok, thread time.
Closed-ended survey responses are efficient and easy to analyze, but limit what respondents can say. Open-ended responses are useful for letting respondents answer with more depth in their own words (as opposed to yours).
Closed-ended survey responses are efficient and easy to analyze, but limit what respondents can say. Open-ended responses are useful for letting respondents answer with more depth in their own words (as opposed to yours).
Online/open access in @polanalysis.bsky.social w/ @willrhobbs.bsky.social: a theory and method for inferring attitudes in open-ended survey responses www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
January 31, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Ok, thread time.
Closed-ended survey responses are efficient and easy to analyze, but limit what respondents can say. Open-ended responses are useful for letting respondents answer with more depth in their own words (as opposed to yours).
Closed-ended survey responses are efficient and easy to analyze, but limit what respondents can say. Open-ended responses are useful for letting respondents answer with more depth in their own words (as opposed to yours).
An elegant and engrossing summary of the Lippmann/Dewey debate and its implications for democracy by @danwphilosophy.bsky.social www.conspicuouscognition.com/p/the-world-.... Lippmann's insights are foundational to my book, The Invented State: Policy Misperceptions in the American Public.
The world outside and the pictures in our heads
Walter Lippmann, John Dewey, and the fundamental question of political epistemology: Can anybody understand modern society?
www.conspicuouscognition.com
January 31, 2025 at 1:23 PM
An elegant and engrossing summary of the Lippmann/Dewey debate and its implications for democracy by @danwphilosophy.bsky.social www.conspicuouscognition.com/p/the-world-.... Lippmann's insights are foundational to my book, The Invented State: Policy Misperceptions in the American Public.
Reposted by Emily Thorson
Just so we are getting this straight, the “Department of Government Efficiency” is trying to pay people *not* to work, at the same time they are blocking (for example) hiring any more VA doctors to treat wounded veterans?
Right ….
Right ….
NEW: OPM is sending a follow-up email to at least some employees from the hr@opm.gov email address stating, "We have received a number of questions regarding the deferred resignation program. Below are our top FAQs."
It then lists these four Q&As, also on the OPM site: www.opm.gov/fork/faq
It then lists these four Q&As, also on the OPM site: www.opm.gov/fork/faq
January 31, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Just so we are getting this straight, the “Department of Government Efficiency” is trying to pay people *not* to work, at the same time they are blocking (for example) hiring any more VA doctors to treat wounded veterans?
Right ….
Right ….
I'm going to be holding a workshop on pre-registration this spring at Syracuse. I'd love to see advice/slides/materials from people who have put on similar workshops. Currently planning on lots of practical examples plus a thorough discussion of the points here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal....
More than meets the ITT: A guide for anticipating and investigating nonsignificant results in survey experiments | Journal of Experimental Political Science | Cambridge Core
More than meets the ITT: A guide for anticipating and investigating nonsignificant results in survey experiments
www.cambridge.org
January 30, 2025 at 4:36 PM
I'm going to be holding a workshop on pre-registration this spring at Syracuse. I'd love to see advice/slides/materials from people who have put on similar workshops. Currently planning on lots of practical examples plus a thorough discussion of the points here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal....
Thank you for this! And I could not agree more. Evidence I've collected across several studies (some in the book, some elsewhere) suggests there is a big unmet demand for practical descriptive information about existing public policy.
Now would be a good time to pick up @smettler.bsky.social’s The Submerged State and @emilythorson.bsky.social’s The Invented State and figure out how we can get people to realize how government works for them.
Government when it's running well is invisible.
Government that is failing? It is omnipresent.
Government that is failing? It is omnipresent.
January 30, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Thank you for this! And I could not agree more. Evidence I've collected across several studies (some in the book, some elsewhere) suggests there is a big unmet demand for practical descriptive information about existing public policy.
Agreed! Recommend this call to action by @taliastroud.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... (which clearly not enough people have paid ATTENTION to) and also this for some cool research designs looking at effects of "passive exposure" academic.oup.com/joc/article/...
January 28, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Agreed! Recommend this call to action by @taliastroud.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... (which clearly not enough people have paid ATTENTION to) and also this for some cool research designs looking at effects of "passive exposure" academic.oup.com/joc/article/...
Thank you! Really happy to hear this. And if anyone else wants recommendations for undergrad-friendly chapters of my book, just let me know.
January 24, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Thank you! Really happy to hear this. And if anyone else wants recommendations for undergrad-friendly chapters of my book, just let me know.
Interesting to think about how this fits into the dual-process model and the ELM. Seems as though people are sometimes motivated not to engage deliberatively, because it would interfere with the enjoyment they get from the performance.
Occurs to me that there’s a similarity between these politics grifters & fundamentalist apologetics: Their job isn’t REALLY to make an argument that holds up to reflection or scrutiny. It’s to deliver a performance of “erudite person who agrees with me” so you have permission not to think too hard.
If that phrase alone doesn't encapsulate 90% of the media's current challenge…
January 16, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Interesting to think about how this fits into the dual-process model and the ELM. Seems as though people are sometimes motivated not to engage deliberatively, because it would interfere with the enjoyment they get from the performance.
Some of my colleagues think it is odd that when I am done with work for the day, I close all my programs (including browser/tabs) and then shut down my computer. I cannot be the only person who does this, right? Didn't we all learn that this was Proper Computer Care at some point in school?
December 17, 2024 at 7:38 PM
Some of my colleagues think it is odd that when I am done with work for the day, I close all my programs (including browser/tabs) and then shut down my computer. I cannot be the only person who does this, right? Didn't we all learn that this was Proper Computer Care at some point in school?
Reposted by Emily Thorson
@pewresearch.org is now hiring interns for summer 2025. Apply or share with others who might be interested, please!
These internships are paid and a great learning/networking experience for undergrads: pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Center...
These internships are paid and a great learning/networking experience for undergrads: pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Center...
Center Internships
The Pew Research Center offers paid internships through our flagship summer internship program. Though specifics may vary by year, internships offerings are usually available on our research teams (Da...
pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com
December 12, 2024 at 3:13 PM
@pewresearch.org is now hiring interns for summer 2025. Apply or share with others who might be interested, please!
These internships are paid and a great learning/networking experience for undergrads: pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Center...
These internships are paid and a great learning/networking experience for undergrads: pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Center...