Campaign literature since 1920
Attack ads, smear tactics, mudslinging – campaigns have never been dirtier. Or have they? Check UCLA Library’s Online Campaign Literature Archive to see for yourself.
Want more dirt? See pieces from one of the world’s largest political cartoon collections, courtesy of Bruin Michael Kahn.
New media
Twitter vs. The New York Times. YouTube vs. CNN. The role of “new media” and “old media” in presidential politics is a hot topic. Franklin D. Gilliam Jr., the new dean of UCLA’s School of Public Affairs, weighs in – via YouTube, of course.
The union vote
Union endorsements have long been coveted. Now a new UCLA study shows that U.S. unionization levels rose substantially this year, buoyed by a rising tide in California in general and Southern California in particular, in defiance of a decades-long trend of decline. <more>
Who will win the presidency?
With history as her guide, UCLA political science professor Lynn Vavreck answers the million-dollar question.
More on Professor Vavreck
The truth about media bias
There’s nothing like a presidential campaign – particularly one with as many historic twists as the 2008 election – to raise cries of bias in the media:
- Two Bruin political scientists evaluate the media impact on Campaign ’08.
- A surprising 2005 UCLA study into who’s right and who’s left in the media is still shaping the debate on bias.
Left or right: all in your head?
Is it true that people with different politics just don’t disagree, they actually have different brains? A UCLA study tests that hypothesis, using neurological scans to see whether liberals and conservatives actually do think differently from each other. <more>
The next generation of leaders
Training high school students to become civically engaged researchers – and empowering them to insert their voices into the public debate on education – were the goals of a summer seminar held by UCLA’s Institute of Democracy, Education and Access in partnership with L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa. <more>
