Scott Meinke
@srmeinke.bsky.social
Political scientist at Bucknell University studying & teaching about US institutions. Congress nerd. smeinke.scholar.bucknell.edu
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Scott Meinke
@srmeinke.bsky.social
· Nov 22
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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How does the media report on Senate procedure, and how does this reporting affect public opinion? I look at these two questions in a new piece in PRQ 🧵 journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Scott Meinke
Thread on Senate nuking of supermajority cloture for their nomination reform resolution:
September 12, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Thread on Senate nuking of supermajority cloture for their nomination reform resolution:
Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you joy and happiness.
August 6, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you joy and happiness.
Reposted by Scott Meinke
Some thoughts on Trump, power, Epstein, coalitions
open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...
open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...
Can Trump's unprecented power consolidation last?
Power, not legitimacy, is what drives politics right now. But that could change.
open.substack.com
July 25, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Some thoughts on Trump, power, Epstein, coalitions
open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...
open.substack.com/pub/goodpoli...
Geeky question for Congress geeks: has anyone tried to validate the idea that the DW-Nominate 2nd dimension has started picking up a cross-party establishment/antiestablishment thing in the House? Or published anything that works from this assumption?
July 20, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Geeky question for Congress geeks: has anyone tried to validate the idea that the DW-Nominate 2nd dimension has started picking up a cross-party establishment/antiestablishment thing in the House? Or published anything that works from this assumption?
Reposted by Scott Meinke
Our article introducing CampaignView is now officially online! Check it out here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
July 17, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Our article introducing CampaignView is now officially online! Check it out here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Really good overview of (1) what we know about when/how voters punish members of Congress on big votes and (2) what that might mean for the OBBB from @mattngreen.bsky.social
Will the “One, Big Beautiful Bill” hurt Republicans in 2026?
What political science tells us.
misofact.substack.com
July 16, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Really good overview of (1) what we know about when/how voters punish members of Congress on big votes and (2) what that might mean for the OBBB from @mattngreen.bsky.social
Don't Let The Pigeon Fly The Plane!
A Delta flight erupted into chaos on Saturday when two pigeons were discovered in the plane's main cabin, video of the pandemonium shows.
Delta flight erupts into chaos as pigeons fly around main cabin
The birds were spotted before the flight to Madison, Wisconsin was taking off from Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport.
nbcnews.to
May 28, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Don't Let The Pigeon Fly The Plane!
Reposted by Scott Meinke
House GOP pay-fors more draconian for tax cuts this year compared to 2017 TCJA. Primary 2017 revenue raiser was🧂🧢 (after "border tax" killed). This time, slimmer GOP seeks more costly tax cuts & more politically salient revenue raisers (Medicaid/SNAP/ACA/Pell✂️). Pulls bill much farther to the right.
May 19, 2025 at 4:07 PM
House GOP pay-fors more draconian for tax cuts this year compared to 2017 TCJA. Primary 2017 revenue raiser was🧂🧢 (after "border tax" killed). This time, slimmer GOP seeks more costly tax cuts & more politically salient revenue raisers (Medicaid/SNAP/ACA/Pell✂️). Pulls bill much farther to the right.
This is excellent, and it hit home on a day when I struggled to explain what "broadcast TV" was/is to my fifth-grade kid. musgrave.substack.com/p/what-the-k...
What the Kids Are Reading
Engaging with the new generation and its media consumption
musgrave.substack.com
January 5, 2025 at 12:04 AM
This is excellent, and it hit home on a day when I struggled to explain what "broadcast TV" was/is to my fifth-grade kid. musgrave.substack.com/p/what-the-k...
Jan. 2023: McCarthy elected Speaker on a promise that bills would cover only a single subject.
Jan. 2025: Johnson elected Speaker on a promise to make everything into one omnibus.
Jan. 2025: Johnson elected Speaker on a promise to make everything into one omnibus.
January 4, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Jan. 2023: McCarthy elected Speaker on a promise that bills would cover only a single subject.
Jan. 2025: Johnson elected Speaker on a promise to make everything into one omnibus.
Jan. 2025: Johnson elected Speaker on a promise to make everything into one omnibus.
Oooh--it's free-range C-SPAN camera day again!
January 3, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Oooh--it's free-range C-SPAN camera day again!
Congressional parties put significant effort into messaging around votes. Members care a lot about explaining their votes. What happens when the party tries to message explanations--how does the party decide which positions to explain? I use new archival data to study this in Party Politics 🧵
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
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journals.sagepub.com
January 2, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Congressional parties put significant effort into messaging around votes. Members care a lot about explaining their votes. What happens when the party tries to message explanations--how does the party decide which positions to explain? I use new archival data to study this in Party Politics 🧵
Very good summary of House GOP leadership problems from Josh Huder: the Speaker leads a chamber that is still complex, institutionalized, and majoritarian, but House Republicans have made necessary institutional experience a "liability not an asset."
House Republican's Broken Leadership Pipeline
Populist politics has made experience a liability.
joshhuder.substack.com
December 31, 2024 at 7:42 PM
Very good summary of House GOP leadership problems from Josh Huder: the Speaker leads a chamber that is still complex, institutionalized, and majoritarian, but House Republicans have made necessary institutional experience a "liability not an asset."
Yikes. (1) Are they going to do this under a rule? (2) If so, can a rule to do this even get out of Rules and pass? (3) And if so, is the rule going to join the bills that pass or leave the Senate to deal with three separate measures? bsky.app/profile/news...
NEWS: House Republicans are meeting at 12:30 today behind closed doors to discuss the new plan leadership hatched...
Separate votes on the following:
- Government funding extension until March
- Original disaster relief #
- Original Farm bill extension
**But NO debt limit**
How will Trump react?
Separate votes on the following:
- Government funding extension until March
- Original disaster relief #
- Original Farm bill extension
**But NO debt limit**
How will Trump react?
December 20, 2024 at 4:48 PM
Yikes. (1) Are they going to do this under a rule? (2) If so, can a rule to do this even get out of Rules and pass? (3) And if so, is the rule going to join the bills that pass or leave the Senate to deal with three separate measures? bsky.app/profile/news...
Just got an email from Wiley thanking me for citing an AJPS article in an article I published two years ago, so I've got that going for me this morning.
December 4, 2024 at 2:57 PM
Just got an email from Wiley thanking me for citing an AJPS article in an article I published two years ago, so I've got that going for me this morning.
How does the media report on Senate procedure, and how does this reporting affect public opinion? I look at these two questions in a new piece in PRQ 🧵 journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
November 22, 2024 at 3:18 PM
How does the media report on Senate procedure, and how does this reporting affect public opinion? I look at these two questions in a new piece in PRQ 🧵 journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
This political scientist strongly recommends placing your election yard sign at least 15 feet away from your fake tombstones, skeletons, and other spooky decorations to avoid message confusion.
October 11, 2024 at 10:57 PM
This political scientist strongly recommends placing your election yard sign at least 15 feet away from your fake tombstones, skeletons, and other spooky decorations to avoid message confusion.
The GOP is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Contract with America. Curious about where it came from, who it represented, and how it affected House Republican actions? I've got you covered: www.cambridge.org/core/element...
The Origins and Consequences of Congressional Party Election Agendas
Cambridge Core - American Studies - The Origins and Consequences of Congressional Party Election Agendas
www.cambridge.org
September 27, 2024 at 9:03 PM
The GOP is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Contract with America. Curious about where it came from, who it represented, and how it affected House Republican actions? I've got you covered: www.cambridge.org/core/element...
Interesting reporting on candidates' use of AI in communicating their positions to voters (from Bucknell polisci grad Jaxon White). www.witf.org/2024/09/24/a...
AI enters politics: 3 Pa. House candidates used ChatGPT to shape voters guide responses | WITF
Artificial intelligence has become the bogeyman of politics, blasted as a potential misinformation tool campaigns can use to mislead voters.
www.witf.org
September 27, 2024 at 12:29 PM
Interesting reporting on candidates' use of AI in communicating their positions to voters (from Bucknell polisci grad Jaxon White). www.witf.org/2024/09/24/a...
I've been teaching the prisoners' dilemma for 20 years and today is the first day that, when asked what they would do, a student finally gave the obvious answer: demand a lawyer.
August 29, 2024 at 6:38 PM
I've been teaching the prisoners' dilemma for 20 years and today is the first day that, when asked what they would do, a student finally gave the obvious answer: demand a lawyer.
Congress folks: My review of Life in the Middle by
Neil Chaturvedi is up in Party Politics. The book is a very persuasive (and timely!) argument for why Senate "moderates" are often *not* power brokers driving centrist outcomes. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Neil Chaturvedi is up in Party Politics. The book is a very persuasive (and timely!) argument for why Senate "moderates" are often *not* power brokers driving centrist outcomes. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
August 26, 2024 at 6:22 PM
Congress folks: My review of Life in the Middle by
Neil Chaturvedi is up in Party Politics. The book is a very persuasive (and timely!) argument for why Senate "moderates" are often *not* power brokers driving centrist outcomes. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Neil Chaturvedi is up in Party Politics. The book is a very persuasive (and timely!) argument for why Senate "moderates" are often *not* power brokers driving centrist outcomes. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
165 Democrats (81%) voted for the rule on the foreign aid package. Policy obviously drove this, but it's worth noting how weird it is to see a modern-era minority party fully embracing the message of "we are helping the majority party govern" and (prob. correctly) seeing electoral benefit in it.
April 19, 2024 at 3:23 PM
165 Democrats (81%) voted for the rule on the foreign aid package. Policy obviously drove this, but it's worth noting how weird it is to see a modern-era minority party fully embracing the message of "we are helping the majority party govern" and (prob. correctly) seeing electoral benefit in it.
Sure, new Taylor Swift this weekend is exciting and all, but it can't compare to watching a Speaker without a procedural majority trying to pass four controversial bills with different coalitions under one rule, apparently to package as one bill for the Senate . . .
April 17, 2024 at 3:26 PM
Sure, new Taylor Swift this weekend is exciting and all, but it can't compare to watching a Speaker without a procedural majority trying to pass four controversial bills with different coalitions under one rule, apparently to package as one bill for the Senate . . .
@dcinbox.bsky.social's data is an amazing research and teaching resource, and this is a great piece summarizing some of what it shows:
I’ve been studying congressional emails to constituents for 15 years − and found these 4 trends after scanning 185,222 of them
In taxpayer-funded email messages to constituents, Republicans prefer visual elements and strategic timing, and Democrats prefer more text-heavy missives.
theconversation.com
March 25, 2024 at 7:41 PM
@dcinbox.bsky.social's data is an amazing research and teaching resource, and this is a great piece summarizing some of what it shows:
$2.13/hr + tips as a busser and then as a server in the early 1990s. In other news, the federal minimum cash wage for tipped employees in 2024 is . . . still $2.13/hr.
$3.35/hr working the fry station at a Burger King, age 15
How much did you earn in your first job?
At 15yo I bussed tables at an Italian place for $3/hr plus unlimited breadsticks and marinara
At 18yo I baked bagels for $8/hr plus unlimited bagels and sandwich toppings
At 15yo I bussed tables at an Italian place for $3/hr plus unlimited breadsticks and marinara
At 18yo I baked bagels for $8/hr plus unlimited bagels and sandwich toppings
March 18, 2024 at 11:29 PM
$2.13/hr + tips as a busser and then as a server in the early 1990s. In other news, the federal minimum cash wage for tipped employees in 2024 is . . . still $2.13/hr.