Shannon McGregor, PhD
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shannimcg.bsky.social
Shannon McGregor, PhD
@shannimcg.bsky.social
Professor at UNC. Principal investigator at CITAP. Researching & writing on political comm: identity, social media, public opinion, data, news. BOOK: Media & January 6th (Oxford) https://global.oup.com/academic/product/media-and-january-6th-9780197758533
Pinned
For those further interested in the political emptiness of polarization, you can read the longer, more academic screed that @dkreiss.bsky.social & I published. It’s #openaccess
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage
November 10, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
seems to me that those democrats inclined not to fight perceive themselves as living through a somewhat ordinary cycle of presidential overreach and backlash and not something much more significant and dangerous
November 10, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
The least most politically engaged people I know are texting me before 8am to say, “we won’t forget.”

So I don’t know man.
November 10, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
I’ll keep pushing this line of analysis because I’m increasingly convinced the clearest path out of this mess is for Dems to adopt a relentless anti-corruption, anti-inequality, anti-oligarchy, pro-democracy platform. The Dem leadership hasn’t realized it yet, but they’re now a reform party.
November 6, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Heading home after a short trip to McGill. I’ve been to Montreal before but not McGill. This campus?! Gorgeous!
November 5, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
Universal swing in action: "What we saw last night was a directional shift toward Democrats in 99.8% of counties that held partisan elections." www.gelliottmorris.com/p/seven-data...
November 5, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
We're all going to write pieces about what you can learn from tonight but it's actually pretty simple: The frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
November 5, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Eugene Deb’s drop in the first sentence — 🙌🏽
November 5, 2025 at 4:20 AM
💯
Tonight's even more proof the mainstream reporters who are still on Twitter are suffering from a brain problem akin Havana Syndrome that is preventing them from accurately doing their jobs. They are being cooked alive by a snuff-focused apartheid algorithm.
November 5, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
Good things are possible and we don’t have to settle.
November 5, 2025 at 3:35 AM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
BREAKING: Democrat Johnny DuPree has flipped a Republican-held Mississippi Senate district in a special election.

DuPree was previously the mayor of Hattiesburg.

His win imperils the Mississippi Senate GOP's narrow supermajority.
www.mississippifreepress.org/democrat-joh...
Democrat Johnny DuPree Flips Republican-Held Mississippi Senate District in Forrest County
Johnny DuPree, a Democrat who served as the mayor of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, for 16 years, has flipped a Republican-held Mississippi Senate seat.
www.mississippifreepress.org
November 5, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
i want to repeat this: mamdani and spanberger have run similar campaigns tailored to their respective electorates and it is maddening to watch political journalists attempt to create some broad contrast where none exist
the other thing about this is that there is no reason to pit these candidates against each other? each are good fits for their respective electorates and each shows the value of vigorous campaigns focused on the stated material problems of voters.
November 4, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
Came here to say this, but Jamelle Bouie has this covered. 👇
When the Democratic tent includes candidates like Spanberger and Mamdani, there is no crisis, or fight, for the party. IT’S A COALITION, NOT A POINT ESTIMATE.
i want to repeat this: mamdani and spanberger have run similar campaigns tailored to their respective electorates and it is maddening to watch political journalists attempt to create some broad contrast where none exist
the other thing about this is that there is no reason to pit these candidates against each other? each are good fits for their respective electorates and each shows the value of vigorous campaigns focused on the stated material problems of voters.
November 5, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
November 5, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
ADHD increases dementia risk, but the available epidemiological data suggests that stimulant medications may normalize risk. Totally fascinating

Thanks @hologramvin.bsky.social for this post! I did not know this so I hunted down the original paper:
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
November 3, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
the assumptions made about the target audience by making the first two items "OnlyFans' and 'child support' are kind of incredible
November 1, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Why do political leaders and the media focus so much shutdown rhetoric and coverage - not just this one - on airlines & flying? Yea, there’s an obvious safety component. But only half of Americans have taken a flight in the last year. 1/
October 31, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
On the cover of the December @theatlantic.com, I lay out some nightmare scenarios for the 2026 election. But you don't need hypotheticals to grasp what it might be like: Just look at North Carolina. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/... #ncpol
North Carolina Is the Canary in the Election Coal Mine
Americans don’t have to imagine what attempts to subvert an election could look like, because it’s already happening in one state.
www.theatlantic.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
Sorry I refuse to entertain the complete non-existent world where white people don’t know that countless cultures, including some of their own but certainly diasporic racialized ones, call their mom’s cousin’s friend’s sister they grew up with “cousin” and call close women elders “aunt/auntie”
October 28, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
The GOP has been extremely effective at shaping perceptions of the Democrats, claiming they support policy positions they don't actually support

If your strategy, as a Dem, for winning in 2028 *STARTS* by buying their spin and lies, then you've already lost
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/the-strate...
The Strategist’s Fallacy in American politics
The average American voter does not think about politics the way elite strategists and pundits do
www.gelliottmorris.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
Once again, @mcsweeneys.net does not miss.

------------------------------------------------

"In 2004, you saw some college guy using me and thought, 'What a lazy cheater.'

Now you’d think, 'At least he’s not asking Gemini.'

In a few years, you’ll say, 'Wow, look, a human being who can read.'"
Hi, It’s Me, Wikipedia, and I Am Ready for Your Apology
“Wikipedia, the constantly changing knowledge base created by a global free-for-all of anonymous users, now stands as the leading force for the dum...
www.mcsweeneys.net
October 28, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
Chotiner: I see, and the cask-

Montresor: of delectable amontillado, yes

Chotiner: it was a lure to exact your revenge

Montresor: through living burial

Chotiner: which you felt was an appropriate use of the wine?
October 28, 2025 at 12:59 AM
I don’t worry much about targeting, but every once in awhile, the profiling seems almost too finely tuned
October 28, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Reposted by Shannon McGregor, PhD
Absolutely right.
“Tell your children who the cowards were.”
October 28, 2025 at 12:27 AM
I guess I have a new example in my political communication class about how NOT to prep for an interview 🙃
October 28, 2025 at 1:49 AM