political science

What is the State of the Union Address Really About?

by SARA SANDERS, DASIL POST-BACCALAUREATE FELLOW, GRINNELL COLLEGE
January 19, 2015July 30, 2018

The State of the Union Address has been an American tradition since 1790. The President of the United States addresses Congress, reports the current condition of the country, and also presents legislative plans. But, does the content of speeches change over time? To examine this question, DASIL staff downloaded the full text of every State of the Union Address, and I used NVivo to analyze them.

Some topics have been more pressing in recent times—like terrorism.

Graph of Mentions of Terrorism in State of the Union Addresses

Federal Election Commission Data Forecast: Occasional Clouds

by BECCA HELLER AND EMMA LANGE, STUDENTS, GRINNELL COLLEGE, WITH FOREWORD BY BARBARA TRISH
January 15, 2015July 30, 2018

About a century ago, Louis Brandeis – before taking a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court – gave his oft-quoted recipe for transparency: “Sunlight is… Read More »Federal Election Commission Data Forecast: Occasional Clouds

Geovisualizing the Ebola Crisis

by LEIF BROTTEM, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, GRINNELL COLLEGE
November 17, 2014July 31, 2018

Media coverage of the Ebola virus outbreak has thus far represented a geospatial and cartographic moment. Mapping of the outbreak and geovisualization of its different… Read More »Geovisualizing the Ebola Crisis

Ad Buys: FCC Data and (Partial) Transparency

by BARBARA TRISH, PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, GRINNELL COLLEGE
November 2, 2014July 31, 2018

Data about political advertising historically have been difficult to access, though recently the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) began implementing new disclosure requirements for TV stations.

braleyernst — FCC data allow for the examination of campaign spending in the Iowa Senate race. More about these graphs below.

Who advertises and how much they spend intrigues political observers, not to mention campaign competitors. Intrigue aside, this information is important for a democratic system aspiring to offer candidates equal access to paid broadcast media – and to put some stops on the ability of the broadcasters to pad their own pockets.