Humanities & Society

In light of the Jan. 6 mob attack on the U.S. Capitol building, many Democrats, and even some Republicans, have called for the use of the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office. What is that amendment and how does it work? Washington University in St. Louis law professor Greg Magarian explains.

While there are no formal rules about how the Senate should function in the event of an even split, there is a template, says an expert on congressional politics at Washington University in St. Louis.

The 2020 presidential election is over. Joe Biden has won. And yet the clarity and consensus that elections once brought, however grudgingly, now founders on the shores of post-fact partisanship, says Douglas Flowe, assistant professor of history in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

On Nov. 7, Joe Biden was declared the winner in Pennsylvania, making him president-elect of the United States. Yet it had been clear since Americans went to the polls Nov. 3 that Biden would win the popular vote. The days of uncertainty and drama were entirely due to the arcane and archaic mechanics of the Electoral College, says Rachel Brown, an assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, and the Washington University in St. Louis Athletic Complex is ready to welcome students, faculty and staff who are registered to vote in St. Louis County. Polls open at 6 a.m Tuesday and will remain open until all voters in line by 7 p.m. have voted. Daily self-screening and face masks will be required. 

A recent survey conducted by the Weidenbaum Center at Washington University in St. Louis found that a majority of voters — 95% of Democrats and 54% of Republicans — recognize evidence for climate change. But partisans differ in how serious they view the issue, what they believe is causing global warming and their support for policies to address the problem.

Americans who vote are more likely to practice social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic than people with a lower sense of civic duty — regardless of political affiliation, according to a new study involving Washington University in St. Louis.

Recently, Washington University in St. Louis political experts Steven Smith, Betsy Sinclair and Andrew Reeves sat down to discuss the reliability of the 2020 polls, as well as election integrity and voter confidence in the election outcome.

At a time when Americans are increasingly polarized and partisans share a mutual disdain for one another, students in Betsy Sinclair’s “Public Opinion and American Democracy” course at Washington University in St. Louis are learning how to bridge the divide.