Via Kevin Collins, I learn that Tom Coburn and John McCain have the “summertime blues.” Why? Because of the stimulus package, and some allegedly wasteful spending in the stimulus package, and, hey, here are 100 wasteful projects in a convenient listicle, and so on. You know this one by heart.
But political science can be proud to have made the list! Coming in at #64:
bq. By changing the criteria voters use to evaluate their political candidates and politics, the media undoubtedly affect mass preferences. Now scholars at the University of Michigan and Princeton University will use stimulus funds to study the ways that the “media priming effect” can be measured. “In particular, results will bear on how, when, and why campaigns affect candidate evaluations and policy opinion.” While quantifying the effects of media priming might be valuable to politicians trying to get elected or those trying to manipulate media consumers, most Americans would probably just rather change the channel.
Ha! “Change the channel”! Like, on the TV. You know, that would be doing that media priming. Ha!
Here’s the study. It was funded by that dreaded NSF political science program. It cost $317,216.
Let me be the first to congratulate Princeton and Michigan. There could be a Cobie in your future!