French Local Elections Round 2 Link Roundup
The first round of the French local elections created quite a stir, and the second wasn’t bad for the anoraks either.
Surveybias Version 1.1 for Stata is out
The shiny and new version 1.1 of our Stata addon surveybias is out. Surveybias estimates accuracy measures for pre-election polls and similar surveys where the true distribution of some categorical variable is known. Here is the lowdown.
Lord Salisbury on House of Cards?
[caption id="attachment_13132" align="alignleft" width="408"] Lord Salisbury on the drawbacks of universal suffrage. Cited in David Marquand, Britain since 1918, p. 54[/caption] MP, Peer, Secretary of State for India, Foreign Secretary, Leader of the Opposition, thrice Prime Minister of Britain, architect of the Empire and arch-Conservative. Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, third Marquess of Salisbury and colloquially known as…
German Liberal Democrats (FDP) Officially off the Public Opinion Radar
Party system change, illustrated. Germany’s FDP was represented in the federal parliament from 1949 until 2013. During this time, they were part of various government coalitions for more than four decades. In 2009, they managed to attract more than 14 per cent of the vote, their best national result ever. Many voters did not like…
NPD: No Interracial Sex Please, We’re German. Very much so
It’s been a boring three months without any offbeat news on the right-wing extremist NPD, but here is hope. The NPD tries to put some distance between themselves and a nationalist porn star.
Federal Constitutional Court Tells the State(s) to Leave Public Broadcaster Alone (Alanis Morissette Edition)
Yesterday, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled on the constitutionality of Germany’s biggest broadcaster, telling parties to keep away. Plus there is a spoof video in this post.
The Front National and the French Local Elections: Blog Roundup
Much has been said about the Front National’s performance in yesterday’s local elections, but not yet by everyone. Here is a bunch of useful links to bring your punditry up to scratch.
Can You Do a Telephone Survey in the Cloud?
Thanks to the generosity of the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, we are fielding a telephone survey on European and national identities. Our CATI studio runs on open source software, in the cloud. No, we are not exactly risk-adverse.
Too Much Politics in Political Science? The Case of Red Hesse
Here is a nice little conundrum for you: Can you say something relevant about politics, parties and political culture while staying absolutely neutral? And what do you do when your editor thinks you’ve crossed the line while you fail to see their point? Also featuring Red Hesse (or maybe not).
German Constitutional Court Kills Electoral Threshold For European Elections
Germany’s Constitutional Court just killed the electoral threshold for European Elections. Here is the backstory, i.e. my random thoughts on the issue.