The Science of Social Problems

Which party’s policies are associated with health and well-being?

At time of writing, we are in our third year of a global pandemic which has killed 6.3 million worldwide and 1 million in the US alone. This situation provided an important test case of how different policy approaches resulted in different outcomes. One difference between the two parties during the pandemic was how they responded to public health guidance.

So, what story is there to tell with all of these data?

Let’s take a look at a simple correlation table among the variables we are using to relate to media distrust. Many of the relations make sense. For example, support for free-speech correlates well with personal freedom and more press freedom (remember low free_press = more freedom).

Curses aren’t real, so why is this happening?

As with the “easy” problems, the “hard” problems are well-understood and the solutions are readily available. However, politicization of these issues adds a deep layer of intractability to these problems. In part, politicization is to be expected because there are extremely influential vested interests in environmental and economic issues.