Suchergebnisse

Abstract
State and local officials played an almost unprecedented role in the implementation of the 2020 census. Given a variety of fiscal and political challenges, subnational governments collectively invested billions of dollars to motivate participation in the count, especially among historically undercounted populations. Nevertheless, state and local investments in the census varied substantially. This article examines the roots of variation in state and local census investments, drawing on a set of 76 interviews with public officials and nonprofit leaders, as well as quantitative analyses of state and local decisions. The results indicate that census investments depend on the salience of the 2020 count to public officials, the partisan identities and incentives of governing coalitions, and the availability of subnational institutional capacity for census operations. These findings have important implications for how we think about the role of intergovernmental relations in supporting critical governance tasks in an increasingly turbulent institutional context.

In his first months as president, Donald Trump has demonstrated an unprecedented aversion to expert-oriented decision making. This essay examines how Trump's presidency exposes tensions in what Skowronek and Orren (2016) refer to as the "policy state", especially within institutions that produce expert analyses of presidential action. While an absence of policy expertise has hampered Trump's agenda, his administration has also taken steps to discredit unfavorable analyses, subvert rules requiring the use of objective analysis, and construct new institutions to promote 'alternative facts'. By deepening public division and distrust, such activities may restructure the political environment in which the Trump presidency itself is judged.