Lab Notes is our blog where we talk about the latest demographic, economic, social, and political trends—and whatever else is on our minds. Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest and greatest Lab Notes delivered to your inbox. #LabNotes
The tragic shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School has once again put gun policy on center stage in our national dialogue. Among the many and varied responses is a call to put more guns in the hands of trained school personnel, who might defend otherwise vulnerable students and school staff.
Read MoreThe flows of people across state boundaries—domestic migration—is of particular interest to a host of people: businesses feeling the pain of labor shortages, Census 2020 watchers wondering how Congressional seats will be reallocated, and even those for whom it’s a point of state pride. Netting 161,000 new residents from other states, Florida was the domestic migration champ in 2017. Second-place Texas had half as many domestic migrants (79,000). Next in line, North Carolina and Washington each acquired about 65,000 transplants in 2017, with Arizona just behind.
Read MoreCaitlyn Jenner. Bathroom bans and related boycotts. Amazon Prime’s Golden Globe winning Transparent series. President Trump’s (now overturned) order excluding transgendered individuals from the military. It is safe to say that questioning the traditional male-female gender binary is now part of our national dialogue. Other researchers and many of those working in public health are among those calling for more and better measurement of the nation’s gender diversity. Like other relatively small and difficult-to-estimate populations—those experiencing homelessness, some immigrant populations, the rare true geniuses that walk amongst us—getting some idea of the population size is but one step in helping to understand their unique needs and contributions.
Read MoreUnderneath the headline indicators, we know there are numerous untold economic stories. When we designed the MPR News | APM Research Lab Ground Level Survey, we were especially curious about Minnesotans’ sense of their financial circumstances and whether they felt they had improved or deteriorated since 2007—just preceding the financial crisis and subsequent recession with its long tail. Many of those north of the poverty line still fear they are in precarious financial straits.
Read MoreIt has been a little disheartening to see the recent spate of reports on mistrust in the news media. How can we rebuild trust in America's essential fourth estate? I suspect that some combination of listening to others, presenting solidly-researched information, and being as transparent as possible will help. And that is just what we've been doing in our first major project: the Ground Level Survey with Minnesota Public Radio News.
Read MoreIf Minnesota competed in a pageant, it might take the “Optimism” crown—if that were even a thing. The Ground Level Survey that we recently completed with Minnesota Public Radio News found that 82 percent of Minnesotans feel hopeful about the state’s future. What’s more, most Minnesotans feel the state is on the right track on an array of issues. At the high end of agreement, 85 percent of Minnesotans feel the state is on the right track when it comes to “providing safe drinking water,” followed closely by “protecting lakes and rivers for things like swimming, boating, and fishing” at 80 percent.
Read More“I don’t know off the top of my head. Lowering taxes.” That was one response to the broadest open-ended question on the recent MPR News | APM Research Lab Ground Level Survey. The question was about change. It asked: “If there is ONE thing that you would like to see changed in Minnesota to improve our state, what would that be?” But “lower my taxes” strikes me as a simplification. While reading through all of the responses, I was taken by how many people wanted a change that would require taxes.
Read MoreThis holiday season Andi, Kassira, and I are feeling grateful to the collaboration and support we have received in the Lab’s first half year of existence. We’ve benefited from the wise counsel of many formal and informal advisers.
Read MoreDid you know that 17,000 residents of Tennesseans speak Arabic? And 177,000 residents of Illinois converse in Polish? Just as glaciers transformed our nation’s physical landscape thousands of years ago, the immigration patterns of the past three centuries—right up to the present—have left their mark on the varied linguistic patterns across the United States.
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