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Q&A

Presidential pardons, explained
President Gerald Ford and two others are see from behind walking down a White House outdoor walkway in 1975

President Gerald Ford walking to his office at the White House, Washington, D.C., Jan. 1, 1975, months after pardoning his predecessor Richard Nixon. (Image: Marion S. Trikosko/Library of Congress) 

Presidential pardons, explained

Law expert Kermit Roosevelt discusses how the pardon process works and why it exists in the first place.

Kristen de Groot

‘What makes us human’: Amy Lutz on autism and community
Amy Lutz seated with her husband and children in nature.

From left to right, top row: Erika Lutz, Amy Lutz, Andrew Lutz, Aaron Lutz. Bottom row: Hilary Lutz, Jonah Lutz, Gretchen Lutz. (Image: Courtesy Amy Lutz)

‘What makes us human’: Amy Lutz on autism and community

In “We Walk: Life with Severe Autism,” doctoral candidate Amy Lutz examines what it means to be in community.

Kristina García

How did echo chambers influence the 2020 election?
A close-up image of a hand holding a mobile phone, with the words "News," "Business," Politics" and "Sports" visible on the screen. Next to the phone is a cup of coffee. In the background are blurred open books.

How did echo chambers influence the 2020 election?

Research from the Annenberg School for Communication shows that people are consuming news from more diverse sources, but many don’t consume any news at all. It’s too soon to tell what role that played in the recent race for president.

Michele W. Berger, Julie Sloane

Is American democracy at a breaking point?
Statue of Liberty in shadow in New York Harbor as the sun sets behind

Can American democracy withstand the strains of the pandemic, the summer’s protests and the current election cycle?

Is American democracy at a breaking point?

Amidst a backdrop of protests, the pandemic, and presidential politics, historian Anne Berg shares her thoughts on whether American democracy is at risk, historical parallels to the current situation, and what ordinary people can do.

Kristen de Groot

Mail-in ballots, foreign interference, and the 2020 election
Person sitting at a large desk that includes a phone and some other items. Picture frames line a desk in the background.

Kathleen Hall Jamieson is the Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, and program director of the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands.

Mail-in ballots, foreign interference, and the 2020 election

In a Q&A, Kathleen Hall Jamieson discusses what we learned from the election four years ago plus how journalists can responsibly share hacked content and what role the public at large can play.

Michele W. Berger

Presidential health and contested elections
White House seen with stormy clouds overhead.

The president's recent coronavirus diagnosis has prompted questions about the 25th Amendment.

Presidential health and contested elections

Political scientist Rogers Smith gives some background on why the 25th Amendment was established, who can invoke it, and what happens if an election’s results are contested by a sitting president.

Kristen de Groot

Trump’s 2016 rhetoric and Latino immigrant civic behavior
Book cover shows three people, one on the left holding a flag, one in the middle wearing glasses and one on the right wearing U.S. military fatigues.

"Holding Fast: Resilience and Civic Engagement Among Latino Immigrants" sheds light on immigrants’ attitudes before, during and after Trump’s election.

Trump’s 2016 rhetoric and Latino immigrant civic behavior

A new book by political scientist Michael Jones-Correa sheds light on immigrants’ attitudes before, during, and after Trump’s election.

Kristen de Groot

‘India front and center’
Man walks up stairs. Posters in Hindi hang on the walls.

Thachil visits a municipal office in India to collect data on annual city budgets. (Image: Adam Auerbach)

‘India front and center’

Tariq Thachil talks with Penn Today about his current work on migration and urbanization in south Asia, the balance between research and teaching, and his new role as the director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI). 

Kristina García

COVID, politics, and voting by mail
Two U.S. postal service mail boxes sit side by side on a sidewalk with trees behind them and a the first few floors of a red brick building on the left in the background

Voting by mail has become a hot topic this election cycle, and a team of researchers at Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES) looked at how partisanship is affecting perceptions of it.

COVID, politics, and voting by mail

New research conducted by the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES) looks at how much support for vote by mail was impacted by the pandemic and efforts by partisan elites to politicize the discussion.

Kristen de Groot