How J.D. Joyner taught his guitar to sing

From time to time, it is wise to consult a statistical portrait of the nation’s politics. Politics cannot be reduced to a science, at least not yet; it is too raw and human for perfect quantification. But we need data to debunk false popular impressions and partisan sleight of hand. This is at least as true in a relatively less studied field like North Carolina state politics, and thanks to the Art Pope-John Locke Foundation, we now have a poll providing a wealth of information on our state’s majority party. Read more

Every two years, exit pollsters attempt to survey voters who’ve just cast ballots. They post interviewers at hundreds of voting sites across the country. They call and email voters who cast ballots by mail. The resulting exit polls are often roundly criticized and improperly reported (such as when journalists circulate and comment on raw exit-poll totals on Election Night that have not been weighted based on actual election returns). Read more