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Gay Canvassers Study May Rely on Bogus Data, but Social Contact Matters for Same-Sex Marriage Debate

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I'm sure that Michael LaCour hoped to make the front page of The New York Times many times over during his career as a Princeton political scientist -- preferably being featured in articles that talked about groundbreaking research (and real results), not his fabrication of a study with Columbia University political scientist Donald Green on the impact of political canvassing on public opinion toward same-sex marriage. The story of the "great gay marriage hoax" is a compelling one for academic researchers, policy activists, and the general public alike. The revelation by Green that the data may have been fabricated , has many reputable news organizations issuing retractions and apologies including Ira Glass over at This American Life . And plenty of academics were jamming up Retraction Watch, making it hard to access Ivan Oransky's breaking post as well as Brockman, Kalla, and Arronow's Irregularities in LaCour (2014) that noted the study's problemat

Political satire makes young people more likely to participate in politics. Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show is likely to continue that trend.

I've got a new post up on the London School of Economics and Political Science's daily blog on American Politics and Policy . In the post, I talk about the impacts of political satire and comedy on our political life -- how tuning into all things funny makes us more likely to express ourselves politically , feel better about our own role in the political process , and encourages young people in particular to seek out additional information from traditional news sources . The piece explores recent contributions of John Oliver's Last Week Tonight and the start of Larry Wilmore's The Nightly Report . I also talk about the potential implications of the pending changeover at The Daily Show now that Trevor Noah has been announced as the next host . In my expert opinion, the political contributions of Trevor Noah's new incarnation of the program will depend in part on the occupations of the interview guests. You can read the full post here .