This paper combines two original surveys, conducted by Polimetrix and the Field Poll, to investigate whether Californians with differing levels of political knowledge vary in the positions that they take on the substance and process of reform

Over the past 50 years, partisan polarization—the ideological distance between the typical Democratic and the average Republican legislator—has widened in California. This article asks whether growing polarization has led to increasing legislative gridlock. Borrowing the approach of the...

This brief essay explains how the Suspense File works, explores its effects on voting patterns and policy outcomes, and outlines options for reform. It draws on evidence from Cox, Kousser, and McCubbins (2010), an article that will appear in a 2010 issue of the leading peer-reviewed Journal of...

Research has suggested that states with citizen initiatives have higher turnout rates than states without them; however, these studies were conducted by analyzing elections decades after states have adopted and started using initiatives. Additionally, this literature has ignored the role of...

Research has suggested that states with citizen initiatives have higher turnout rates than states without them; however, these studies were conducted by analyzing elections decades after states have adopted and started using initiatives. Using data from 1870 to 2008, we attempt to resolve...