Institutions of Democracy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Americans who live in states that hold partisan judicial elections are more cynical toward the courts than Americans who live in states that do not hold partisan elections. Partisan judicial elections foster the belief that “judges are just politicians in robes.” Partisan judicial elections also decrease public trust that state courts are

Annenberg Classroom (www.annenbergclassroom.org) has won a silver W3 award from the International Academy of Visual Arts in the education category. The W3 Award honors creative excellence in websites, web advertising and web video. More than 2,700 entries were received by the judges.

Most Americans know little about the workings of the U.S. Supreme Court, including the fact that Supreme Court rulings are final, according to a national survey conducted for the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center. The findings are being released today in advance of Constitution Day, Monday, September 17. When asked “if a person

FactCheck.org has won a Clarion Award from the Association for Women in Communications. The prize, given in the online media category, recognizes FactCheck’s 2006 election coverage. It will be presented in October at the Association for Women in Communications’ annual conference in Orlando, Florida. Earlier this year, FactCheck.org won two Webby “People’s Voice” awards in

For the second year in a row, Annenberg Political Fact Check (www.factcheck.org) has been included among the 25 Sites We Can’t Live Without by Time.com. FactCheck “is an independent, nonpartisan effort to cut through the routine spin and dissembling of politicians and other public figures,” noted Time. “Staff writers check speeches, TV ads, news releases

C-Span viewers this weekend watched as 12 voters from the Baltimore area talked about the direction of the nation and what they wanted in  a presidential candidate. The two-hour program is the first in a series of focus groups to be conducted in advance of the 2008 election by Democratic pollster Peter Hart, on behalf

Thirty-nine states elect their judges in some fashion. What once were “sleepy little affairs,” judicial campaigns have become high-stakes races, drawing in big money and increasingly negative advertising campaigns. In 2006, an estimated $16 million was spent on advertising in supreme court races in 10 states, a record. If predictions hold true, contests in 2008