It rsquo s common sense that voters prefer good-looking candidates This rule is why John F Kennedy beat Richard Nixon in 1960 by the narrowest of margins at the same time that his party captured large majorities in both houses of Congress and Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter in 1980 during one o

The latest blog post from Robert David Sullivan at "(Un)Conventional Wisdom"

The child-free movement in the United States has not yet become a visible lobby in Washington The Wikipedia entry on ldquo voluntary childlessness rdquo ends with a dismissive ldquo the movement has not had significant political impact rdquo This is frustrating to those who view childless ad

Bill de Blasio elected mayor of New York this week campaigned as a soak-the-rich liberal but Business Insider rsquo s Josh Barro notes that there rsquo s not much money for new government programs in city government mdash even if the state legislature and Gov Andrew Cuomo approve de Blasio rsquo

Robert David Sullivan on election results in New Jersey, Virgina, Boston and elsewhere.

Here are two items to mull over as we wait for election returns from across America First researchers have discovered that people who follow politics are not happy about being on the wrong side of election results From ldquo The Intense Well-Being Consequences of Partisan Identity rdquo PDF

In addition to gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia several major cities elect mayors tomorrow including New York Houston Charlotte Detroit Boston and Seattle see the U S Conference of Mayors for a complete list This blog has already noted the ldquo glocalization rdquo theory

Among the ballot questions before voters next week is a minimum-wage hike in New Jersey The Washington Post rsquo s Niraj Choksi reports On Tuesday voters there are expected to overwhelmingly pass an amendment to the state constitution that raises the minimum wage by a dollar to 8 25 and sets i

Newshounds must be getting tired of reading about Obamacare especially if they have good health insurance from their employers and aren rsquo t affected by the law Premium increases happened on a regular basis before Barack Obama was elected president But when the House of Representatives calls

The latest political roundup from Robert David Sullivan at "(Un)Conventional Wisdom"