IGS in the News

The Daily Californian published a tribute to Paloma Foster, a UC Berkeley re-entry student parent and 2024 IGS Democracy Camp in DC fellow, who died on June 21 at age 35. Foster was a Regents' and Chancellors' Scholar majoring in political science, with minors in public policy and ethnic studies, and channeled her own experiences with incarceration and the foster system into a deep commitment to criminal justice reform.

KQED reported on the National Archives and Records Administration's plan to close its Bay Area facility in San Bruno, which holds more than 75,000 cubic feet of immigration, court, and genealogical records, including original documents from the landmark birthright citizenship case United States v. Wong Kim Ark and Alcatraz inmate records. Kris Kasianovitz, library director at the IGS Library at UC Berkeley, said the closure "feels like an attack on access to key government records," emphasizing their long-term value as historical evidence.

Berkeley News reported on a new Berkeley IGS Poll, led by IGS Co-Director Eric Schickler, which found that a strong majority of California voters across party lines want candidates for governor and president to prioritize defending democracy and voting rights. The poll found that 80% of likely voters in the June 2 primary called the issue very important to their vote, ranking it above the cost of living, education, homelessness, and crime, while just 27% of registered voters believe state leaders are doing enough to defend democracy.

Berkeley News profiled Normalizing Inequality: How Californians Make Sense of the Growing Divide, a new book co-authored by IGS Co-Director and UC Berkeley sociology professor G. Cristina Mora and Berkeley African American Studies professor Tianna Paschel. Drawing on 136 in-depth interviews with middle-class residents of Los Angeles County and the Central Valley, the book identifies three key patterns (exceptional framing, spatial comparison, and bounded blame) through which Californians rationalize profound economic disparities while maintaining a progressive self-image.

The East Bay Express reported on findings from the April Berkeley IGS Poll of 5,962 registered California voters on the state of American democracy, drawing extensively on remarks by IGS Co-Director Eric Schickler at the April 27 Sacramento event co-sponsored by IGS and the UCLA Voting Rights Project. The article highlights key poll findings, including that 68% of respondents feel American democracy is under attack, 64% cited voter suppression as a major concern, and 79% believe corporations have too much influence on elections.

The New York Times cited IGS Co-Director and UC Berkeley political science professor Eric Schickler in an interactive data feature examining how nationwide redistricting battles are shrinking the number of competitive congressional districts ahead of the November 2026 midterms. Schickler characterized the trend as a self-reinforcing cycle, warning that eliminating competitive seats diminishes voter participation and weakens elected officials' incentives to respond to public dissatisfaction.

In the lead up to the open all-party primary held on June 2, the New York Times featured polling results from several pollsters on the upcoming California governor's race. The IGS poll is lauded as one of the New York Times' three "select pollsters", which the Times recognizes as nonpartisan sponsored polls that have a track record of accuracy in recent elections, are members of professional polling organizations, and conduct probablity-based sampling.

In answer to the question “Why does Trump get away with it?” NYT Opinion columnist Thomas Edsall quotes IGS Co-Director Eric Schickler’s recent Political Science Quarterly article, “What Donald Trump has Taught us about American Political Institutions,” stating: "it would be difficult to match or improve upon” Schickler’s “overarching analysis of the contemporary dilemma over American democracy.” Read Prof. Schickler's article here.

Chicago Magazine's January 2026 issue featured IGS Resident Scholar and law professor Kathleen Morris in a deep-dive on how cities are increasingly using affirmative litigation as a tool to hold corporations and the federal government accountable. The article traces the origins of the movement to 2006, when San Francisco became the first city in the nation to form a dedicated affirmative litigation unit, with Morris at its helm.

A new study found that Republicans in California are more divided on Trump’s immigration policies.

In the final days before Californian's will vote on Proposition 50, a temporary redistricting initiative championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in response to the Texas state legislature's own redistricting plans, ABC7's Monica Madden interviewed UC Berkeley political scientist and IGS Co-Director, Eric Schickler, to discuss the history of "gerrymandering", the factors at play ahead of this special election, and some of the impacts the outcome may have on California's legacy of independent, citizen-led redistricting efforts.

The White House is withholding billions of dollars in federal funds for infrastructure and energy projects in blue states, a move legal experts say is likely unlawful. IGS Co-Director Eric Schickler was featured among several legal and political science scholars to provide facts and evidence about what the Constitution actually says about the executive branch's power over spending, and the implications moving forward. 

A panel of historians and political scientists, including IGS Co-Director Eric Schickler, answer the question: "Historically speaking, since the end of the Civil War, has the country ever been more polarized than it is right now, and are you more optimistic or pessimistic about conditions improving?" Click here to read the full article.

Republican and Democratic voters share common ground when it comes to the University of California: Both sides express widespread support for UC, its research, medical centers and ability to elevate the lives of students, a statewide poll shows.

Strong majorities of registered voters across demographic groups — urban and rural, racial, education levels — said UC research was good for their communities, including 62% of Californians with only high school degrees. Voters in their 20s have the most favorable view of research.