The Underbelly of Congressional Pork: A QuantCrit Study of Partisanship, Race, and Distributive Politics

Unintended Consequences of Health Care Legislation

The article examines such a phenomenon of American politics as the party platform. The article reflects its features in comparison with European interpretations of the concept of “party program”. The author’s definition of the concept “party platform” is given, which is based on a consideration of the definitions of domestic and foreign policy researchers of the concept “party program”. The article focuses on the foreign policy parts of the platforms of the main US political parties. The ideological approaches and conditions that influence the formation of the foreign policy part of the party platform are considered (from factors such as political expediency to the personal views of US presidential candidates). An example of a comparative analysis of the foreign policy parts of the platforms of the US Republican and Democratic parties is given. Based on a comparative analysis of the foreign policy parts of the platforms of the main US political parties, the author proposes his own methodology for determining the similarities and differences of party platforms. This methodology allowed the author of the article to plot the similarities and differences in the foreign policy approaches of the US Republican and Democratic parties from 2000 to 2020. The comparative analysis carried out by the author allows us to say that the platforms of the main US political parties can be used to analyze the foreign policy course of different US administrations and make forecasts on Washington’s foreign policy.

The internet as a fundraising tool in US election campaigns has been used for a quarter of the century now. The method of pursuing the goal of raising money by individual campaign teams using the web has transformed over time, just like the Internet has transformed, and as has the regulatory environment. Although the internet’s fundraising potential had been noticed earlier by the Republican Party, it was the Democratic Party that acted more consistently and effectively. Disproportions in the efficiency of using the internet for raising funds for election campaigns between the two major US political parties had not seriously begun to be addressed by the less online grossing Republican Party until the 2019–2020 electoral cycle. This paper compares the platforms employed by both major political parties and analyses the strategies for encouraging donors to use them and the fundraising effectiveness in the 2019–2020 electoral cycle, in order to facilitate an answer to two questions (1) whether the potentials for the platform-based fundraising between the two major parties became equal, and (2) whether web platforms played a disruptive role in individual races by enabling flooding of key races with out of state money.

The Catholic Church’s pro-life, pro-social justice policy agenda takes the sides of both major US political parties. This potentially cross-pressures Catholic voters’ choice between those parties, but could alternatively legitimate a Catholic voter’s personal partisan preference. This paper examines whether Catholic voters who share the Church’s core policy positions are more or less likely than comparably cross-pressured non-Catholic voters to exhibit political behaviors associated with cross-pressures: avoiding identification with a major party, avoiding voting or a major-party vote choice, defecting from one’s party in voting, and selectively misperceiving candidate issue positions. Analyzing data from the 2016-2018 Cooperative Congressional Election Studies and the 1992-2016 American National Election Studies, I find little evidence that Catholics are uniquely, strongly cross-pressured. If anything, cross-pressured (and other) Catholics are more likely than comparable non-Catholics–even those in faith traditions that are more clearly aligned with a single party–to embrace partisan politics. In some cases, partisan differences between Catholics in their responsiveness to cross-pressures exceed differences between Catholics and non-Catholics.

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), institutions that enroll at least 25% Hispanic students, are institutionally diverse, including a much wider array of institutional types than other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). Furthermore, they have distinctive institutional characteristics from those typically emphasized in institutional typologies such as the Carnegie classification system. To understand better the heterogeneity among HSIs based on their unique institutional qualities, we constructed a conceptual model based on existing theoretical frameworks and empirical research to describe and differentiate among HSIs. Using cluster analysis to examine a population of U.S. mainland and Puerto Rican 2-year and 4-year HSIs in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), we identified six types of HSIs. This typology helps to place HSIs within the broader landscape of U.S. higher education institutions, provides a foundation for understanding institutional diversity among HSIs, and offers insights about classifying other MSIs and broad access institutions. In an era of increasing accountability, it also provides a tool to identify peer institutions for HSIs, to inform decisions about the extent to which practices at certain HSIs might be applicable to other institutions, and to compare the performance across institutions in more contextually appropriate ways.

BackgroundBurnout and the mental health burden of the COVID-19 pandemic have disproportionately impacted health care workers. The links between state policies, federal regulations, COVID-19 case counts, strains on health care systems, and the mental health of health care workers continue to evolve. The language used by state and federal legislators in public-facing venues such as social media is important, as it impacts public opinion and behavior, and it also reflects current policy-leader opinions and planned legislation.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to examine legislators’ social media content on Twitter and Facebook throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to thematically characterize policy makers’ attitudes and perspectives related to mental health and burnout in the health care workforce.MethodsLegislators’ social media posts about mental health and burnout in the health care workforce were collected from January 2020 to November 2021 using Quorum, a digital database of policy-related documents. The total number of relevant social media posts per state legislator per calendar month was calculated and compared with COVID-19 case volume. Differences between themes expressed in Democratic and Republican posts were estimated using the Pearson chi-square test. Words within social media posts most associated with each political party were determined. Machine-learning was used to evaluate naturally occurring themes in the burnout- and mental health–related social media posts.ResultsA total of 4165 social media posts (1400 tweets and 2765 Facebook posts) were generated by 2047 unique state and federal legislators and 38 government entities. The majority of posts (n=2319, 55.68%) were generated by Democrats, followed by Republicans (n=1600, 40.34%). Among both parties, the volume of burnout-related posts was greatest during the initial COVID-19 surge. However, there was significant variation in the themes expressed by the 2 major political parties. Themes most correlated with Democratic posts were (1) frontline care and burnout, (2) vaccines, (3) COVID-19 outbreaks, and (4) mental health services. Themes most correlated with Republican social media posts were (1) legislation, (2) call for local action, (3) government support, and (4) health care worker testing and mental health.ConclusionsState and federal legislators use social media to share opinions and thoughts on key topics, including burnout and mental health strain among health care workers. Variations in the volume of posts indicated that a focus on burnout and the mental health of the health care workforce existed early in the pandemic but has waned. Significant differences emerged in the content posted by the 2 major US political parties, underscoring how each prioritized different aspects of the crisis.

Troubled by the inequities in competitive grantmaking, we use critical quantitative methods to analyze the FY2023 federal academic earmarks as a potential mechanism for racialized change work. Specifically, we ask: To what extent does Congress distribute academic earmarks in ways that reinforce or weaken the racialized stratification of resources across organizations in the field? Accordingly, we identify distribution patterns of academic earmarks, considering the allocation of dollars and types of earmarks (i.e., general capacity-building versus specialized grants) across colleges and universities, between White-serving institutions and minority-serving institutions (MSIs), and among MSIs. Based on our analysis, Congress favored a racially reproductive funding portfolio, driven by smaller and more restrictive allocations, not fewer earmarks. However, the distribution of earmarks among MSIs defied normed expectations, as Congress did not privilege whiter, more prestigious MSIs, signaling the potential of pork-barrel politics for racially reparative work.

Insufficient reporting of the size of the solo academic librarian population exists. Utilizing Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) annual data and adhering to the 1989 Solo Librarians Caucus definition of solo librarianship, a method relying on IPEDS UnitIDs and the Human Resources (HR) survey component was designed to quantify this population working within American institutions of higher education for fiscal years 2016 through 2019. Pairing with additional IPEDS institutional data from two fiscal years provided overview insight into the institution types served by these professionals based on geographic region, enrollment full-time equivalents (FTEs), Carnegie Classifications, and annual library expenditure.

ABSTRACTMuch of the research and discussion of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) focuses on four-year institutions, impeding the significance of their two-year counterparts. Using extant literature and data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), this paper elucidates Historically Black Community Colleges (HBCCs). By providing nuanced perspectives on this group of community colleges, we situate these institutions in their unique context. The paper provides a historical background of HBCCs, a review of relevant literature, and a descriptive profile of HBCCs’ organizational characteristics. Finally, we discuss topical and theoretical recommendations for future research. This paper is a call for further research situated in the distinctive context of HBCCs, and carries both scholarly and practical significance for HBCCs, as well as other HBCUs, Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), and community colleges.

Student health services are associated with improved health outcomes and academic success, particularly among under-resourced college populations. This study compared student health services at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs) and identified factors associated with the availability of comprehensive health services (CHS). We conducted a secondary analysis of 2022 data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), the Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) Directory, and the websites of HBCUs and PBIs (n=167). Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were undertaken to identify institutional variables associated with providing CHS. Institutional variables included college type (public vs. private), MSI category (HBCU vs. PBI), undergraduate enrollment, location, and proportion of Pell grant recipients. Approximately 13% of HBCUs and 26% of PBIs offered no student health services; 65% of HBCUs and 39% of PBIs offered on-campus CHS with prescribing providers. Four-year HBCUs were five times more likely than 4-year PBIs to have CHS (p=0.014). Institutions with more Pell Grant recipients were less likely to offer CHS. Access to health care is an important social determinant of health, academic persistence, and achievement for college students. HBCUs were significantly more likely than PBIs to offer CHS. HBCUs are more likely than PBIs to have resources from federal funding, donors, and endowments that may support the development of student health centers and services. Increased funding for PBI health centers could improve access and promote health equity among the most vulnerable student populations.

Much of the research and discussion of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) focuses on four-year institutions, impeding the significance of their two-year counterparts. Using extant literature and data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), this paper elucidates Historically Black Community Colleges (HBCCs). By providing nuanced perspectives on this group of community colleges, we situate these institutions in their unique context. The paper provides a historical background of HBCCs, a review of relevant literature, and a descriptive profile of HBCCs’ organizational characteristics. Finally, we discuss topical and theoretical recommendations for future research. This paper is a call for further research situated in the distinctive context of HBCCs, and carries both scholarly and practical significance for HBCCs, as well as other HBCUs, Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), and community colleges.

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), institutions that enroll at least 25% Hispanic students, are institutionally diverse, including a much wider array of institutional types than other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). Furthermore, they have distinctive institutional characteristics from those typically emphasized in institutional typologies such as the Carnegie classification system. To understand better the heterogeneity among HSIs based on their unique institutional qualities, we constructed a conceptual model based on existing theoretical frameworks and empirical research to describe and differentiate among HSIs. Using cluster analysis to examine a population of U.S. mainland and Puerto Rican 2-year and 4-year HSIs in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), we identified six types of HSIs. This typology helps to place HSIs within the broader landscape of U.S. higher education institutions, provides a foundation for understanding institutional diversity among HSIs, and offers ...

We propose a method and a system that aim to gauge local support for the two major US political parties in the 68 most competitive House of Representative districts during the mid-term elections. We analyze tweets explicitly posted from locations within each district. To distinguish between Republican and Democratic tweets, we adopt a RNN-LSTM binary classifier which reached validation accuracy of 85% over individual tweets, despite the highly implicit and short content shared on the social network. The method was able to predict the correct winner on 60% of the highly competitive (and thus extremely hard to predict also with traditional methods) districts. The lower result at district level is also an indicator of the population bias of the Twitter platform with respect to the actual voters. The classifier architecture, along with the other methods and tools we propose, is domain- and language- independent and may be applied to any highly polarizing topic with enough social media activity.

Less than two years after President Nixon resigned in disgrace, the US Army made a significant shift in its warfighting doctrine, Field Manual 100-5 (Operations), to focus exclusively on fighting a single foe: Soviet Russia. Never before, and never since, has the Army focused on fighting a single adversary, but never before had the two major US political parties been so united in opposing the policies of a disgraced president. The Army took advantage of this rare bipartisan unity, and less than a year later, made a doctrinal shift to justify the procurement of five new major combat systems needed to fight and win against what had suddenly become America’s single bipartisan foe: Russia.

The article analyzes the basis of electoral support of two principal candidates in the 2024 US presidential elections in comparison with two previous campaigns, in which the Republican Party was represented by Donald Trump. The analysis is based on data from exit polls conducted for CNN. The analysis starts with a discussion of the role of “negative voting” (i.e., when the main motive of voting is against the opponent of preferred candidate) in all three campaigns. It continues with research on the dynamics of voting patterns of basic social and demographic cohorts of voters. The analysis shows that Trump received a solid majority of votes amongst: men, voters aged 45-65, voters without a college degree. He won the 2024 elections by securing majorities in cohorts of voters with an annual income below USD 100 000, in rural areas; and due to a broadening support of African and Latino American voters. Conversely, the Democratic Party had advantages among women, younger age cohorts (though more narrow in 2024 than during earlier campaigns), voters with college degrees, urban dwellers and more affluent people. The advantage in votes by middle-class suburban dwellers in all three cases secured for the winner overall electoral victories. The electoral basis of major US political parties (often referred to as “coalitions”) are complex. The Democratic base includes, on one hand, those cohorts of “underprivileged” voters which historically supported the party as the protector of their interests. However, in 2024 the Democrats lost most of the support of one of these cohorts, i.e., the blue-collar workers. On the other hand, the Democratic base includes liberal and progressive-minded cohorts, most of which are have confidence in life career prospects. The Republican support base includes all the conventional conservative-leaning cohorts. Not all the people belonging to such cohorts are radical or populist, but most of them accept Trump’s leadership style. A new “acquisition” for the party is the majority they obtained among voters without college degrees (mostly blue-collar workers).