Share this page!

G. Elliott Morris Profile picture
Twitter logo
28 Feb, 5 tweets, 1 min read
honestly, i really dig the look of the internet in 2008
the information density here is vastly superior to what we have now
pour one out
two thoughts:

i) being born in 1996 has many perks, but i really feel like i missed out on the good days of the internet here
ii) historical research (eg, on polls or political blogging, &c) is vastly easier now thanks to web archives and digitized records
it is clear to me now that smartphones ruined web design, and social media ruined the internet

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with G. Elliott Morris

G. Elliott Morris Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @gelliottmorris

G. Elliott Morris Profile picture
1 Mar
I am going to take the opposite view from Lee and say this poll is actually pretty bad news, as it confirms stubbornly high levels of partisanship + leaning. After a decline from 2004 to 2014, the % of Americans choosing something other than true Independent has risen back to 91% Image
Partisans are more likely than ever to refuse to label themselves as Ds or Rs outright, but (even after the events of the last 2 months) are no more likely to actually disavow their party when pressed. GOP identity is as low as it was all the way back in [checks chart] Dec 2018. Image
Perhaps more people than ever want third parties, but the parties they want are more extreme than those on offer, so the leaned percentage increases & voting behavior get more predictable as frustration rises. (This is consistent with other Gallup data.)

Read 5 tweets
G. Elliott Morris Profile picture
24 Feb
Disconnect, disregard — potato potahto
When America's electoral institutions let you win the House, Senate, and Presidency while losing the popular vote, there are fewer incentives to actually listen to the will of the people
To me, one of the reasons why polling is so crucial to good governance is that there is literally no institution in America's federal government that gives a voice to the raw political majority 100% of the time. Polls work the ways democracies (and republics!) are supposed to.
Read 6 tweets
G. Elliott Morris Profile picture
21 Feb
One of the hardest parts about writing a book about trusting the will of the people to guide our gov right now is that about 25-30% of the public has basically been brainwashed by an anti-fact media ecosystem and radicalized by bad-faith opinion leaders.

So... why trust people?
The answer is at once obvious and a hard pill to swallow: The vast majority of Americans still see Jan 6 for what it (verifiably) was: a violent mob of Trump supporters trying to kill oppo leaders and overthrow the government. So we can still trust the majority. But we also have
to acknowledge that a ~fourth of Americans aren't adding to the wisdom of the public, bc they aren't getting information that would lead them to rationalize or otherwise deliberate about what government could do for them. The hard truth is that we can't always trust the people.
Read 7 tweets
G. Elliott Morris Profile picture
21 Feb
Returning to normal will be a lot harder if 30% of Americans continue to refuse to get vaccinated. The good news: that number is trending down view.e.economist.com/?qs=507097ddb1…
Given that a person's political orientation is the biggest predictor of vaccine hesitancy, and we're geographically polarized, I wouldn't be surprised if we see lots of blue areas approach normalcy before red areas, where refusing vaccines and guidelines could prolong circulation
The good news, for now, is that Republicans don't seem to be getting *more* hesitant to take the vaccine, as we may have expected given typical post-inauguration polarization in attitudes. I consider this one of the biggest sources of optimism in months.
Read 4 tweets
G. Elliott Morris Profile picture
19 Feb
I really wonder how different our conversation about "the future of polling" would be if people just lowered their expectations for horse race precision down to the appropriate level
I am not denying that polling error exists, merely arguing that slightly-larger-than-average errors should be less surprising to people. I think this tweet proves my point. Four points of bias on vote share is not rare, nor does it make polling useless
The easiest way to make progress might just be for pollsters to double whatever traditional margin of sampling error they're reporting. (Would not be opposed to arguments in favor of tripling.)

Read 6 tweets
G. Elliott Morris Profile picture
18 Feb
New report on faith in American democracy and elections from @BrightLineWatch

29% of respondents say they'd support dissolving the US into smaller, "like-minded" nations, including 50% of Republicans in the South and 41% of Ds on west-coast states

brightlinewatch.org/american-democ…
@BrightLineWatch I read a lot of polling data about how polarized and hopelessly divided many Americans are, but this report showing that one-third of people favor breaking up the nation is perhaps the most distressing
In terms of still having faith in "the people," it is reassuring to see that a clear majority of Americans still want their country to stay intact — but that's, like, kinda a minimum bar
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @gelliottmorris has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @gelliottmorris!

Read all threads by @gelliottmorris