Arjun Vishwanath

Assistant Professor at Boston University studying representation in American politics.

[Arjun Vishwanath @avishwanath28]

Most discourse on the issues of democracy is plagued by this phenomenon (from Przeworski 1999), although usually asserted in the form "Democracy *requires* X" or "This threat to X is a threat to democracy". Political scientists are as guilty of this (maybe more?) as everyone else

[Ben Moll @ben_moll]

Every journal editor should read this:

https://t.co/cGstyJOa3m

[Jonathan Robinson @jon_m_rob]

More high-quality research contra the public financing of elections (which polls well & voters like in the abstract). Candidates who are exclusively publicly financed are often "more extreme and less representative of their districts than nonpublicly financed candidates."

[Jonathan Robinson @jon_m_rob]

Having "traditionalist" values in 16 predicts anti-trans attitudes in 20 -- ~strongly as past views on trans public policy Qs (bathroom bans, for ex.). Pushes back against the theory that conservatives "gin" up any controversy, ignoring tapping into voters' preexisting worldview

[Arjun Vishwanath @avishwanath28]

To be clear, the pattern also exists among Democrats—but it is more notable among Republicans given beliefs that they do not engage in symbolic appeals to racial minorities

[Arjun Vishwanath @avishwanath28]

Conservative activists won't like this, but it's exactly the pattern I find among GOP MCs for blacks, Hispanics, and Asians: if the group has a large share of the population (SD has third highest % of Nat. Ams), MCs symbolically represent the group more: https://t.co/ELehavJ2Rv

[Leader John Thune @LeaderJohnThune]

Today we celebrate Native American Day. I’m proud to join South Dakotans in honoring the heritage and contributions of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota people.

[QJPS Editors @qjps_editors]

From the lastest issue of the QJPS, "The Effects of Ranked Choice Voting on Substantive Representation" by @avishwanath28. A thread.

[Arjun Vishwanath @avishwanath28]

@playedaroundwi4 My understanding is that it's akin to STV in Cambridge, MA and certain Anglophone countries

[Arjun Vishwanath @avishwanath28]

New York City is using RCV tomorrow to choose its nominees. Over the past decade, reformers have hoped that RCV would improve representation. Perhaps it helps someone like Mamdani win?

My new article in @qjps_editors (linked @ end) finds that RCV doesn't improve representation

[Arjun Vishwanath @avishwanath28]

It looks like Mamdani will win. One underrated but obvious reason why RCV doesn't matter much: it usually produces the same winner as plurality vote. Given that Mamdani is leading in the first round, he very likely would have won in a normal plurality election too.

[Arjun Vishwanath @avishwanath28]

New York City is using RCV tomorrow to choose its nominees. Over the past decade, reformers have hoped that RCV would improve representation. Perhaps it helps someone like Mamdani win?

My new article in @qjps_editors (linked @ end) finds that RCV doesn't improve representation

[Marginal Revolution @MargRev]

The Effects of Ranked Choice Voting on Substantive Representation https://t.co/YocvWsz5et

[QJPS Editors @qjps_editors]

The new issue of the Q is now out. We have great papers from @David_J_Hilden, @MichaelRKistner; Karekurve-Ramachandra; @Jferrer505; @avishwanath28. We will tweet a thread about each paper in the coming weeks. Stay tuned. For now, you can access them at: https://t.co/LfGus6Mp5f

[Arjun Vishwanath @avishwanath28]

Check out the paper here: https://t.co/1sFmyMcZ68
Here is an ungated version: https://t.co/crz0qgtbAJ

[Arjun Vishwanath @avishwanath28]

It's also possible that we would need to see bigger electoral changes (multi-member elections, parliamentary system) to get big policy change. That's possible, but we'll have to wait and see.

[Josh McCrain @joshmccrain]

Was on a panel here a few years ago w/ a bunch of RCV advocates, and it was a huge shock to everyone when I said a) empirical evidence isn't there; and b) it's not even clear why the mechanisms they propose would exist. Entire think tanks exist to advocate for RCV w/ no evidence!

[Lee Drutman ⚙️🏛 @leedrutman]

Yet another null finding for RCV's effect. Time to accept that RCV is too marginal to make any meaningful difference on political outcomes or representation, and move on?