Three reasons to vote

Staying home on election day? There are three scientific reasons why you should really make an effort to vote.

Gert-Jan Lelieveld • December 12, 2016

Campaign slogans: What’s in a name?

Much has been said about Hillary Clinton’s campaign slogans. She started out with the slogan “Love trumps hate”. This one may go down in history as one of the silliest political campaign slogans ever.

Willem van der Does • November 07, 2016

How to set prejudice aside when watching a debate

The last few weeks have seen the long-anticipated debates between the Democrats’ presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the Republican Donald Trump. The debates were very fierce and both candidates availed of every opportunity to make personal attacks.

Gert-Jan Lelieveld • October 19, 2016

The voter’s mind is already made up

I wrote this analysis several days in advance of the first debate between Clinton and Trump, because the content of the debates really doesn’t make any difference.

Willem van der Does • October 13, 2016

Is Alexander Pechtold the Dutch Michael Dukakis of 2015?

At the close of the pre-election debate, a poll by RTL news showed Alexander Pechtold, leader of the opposition party D66, narrowly in the lead over prime minister Mark Rutte (VVD). But from a psychological point of view Rutte was the clear winner...

Willem van der Does • March 16, 2015

It’s rational not to vote

The turnout for the recent Dutch municipal council elections was very low. From a rational perspective this is not surprising. The chance of casting the pivotal vote is minuscule, so why vote?

Gert-Jan Lelieveld • April 02, 2014

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