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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

My team at the NVA Lab has produced a new dashboard for exploring our data on US protests from Jan 2025-May 2026. This snapshot shows the 61k+ protest events (>14.6M+ recorded participants) active in the US since Trump's second inauguration. Link to dashboard in thread.

A platform displaying the data on US protests from the Crowd Counting Consortium. It includes a map of the US with counts of protest events in circular form overlaying the protests' locations. It also includes weekly tallies of protest events and participations, top protest issues, and various filters allowing users to explore events by location, issue, date, political valence, etc. The top of the image shows a total of 61,782 protests with 14,684,201 participants across 55 US states and territories from January 20, 2025 to May 31, 2026.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Overall, we have tallied 4x more protests through Jan 31, 2026 than we had through Jan 31, 2018

Line graph that shows a blue line of # protests since Trump's 2nd inauguration surpassed, showing these to have exceeded 42k by the end of Jan 2026. A green line counts # of protests during the same time period in Trump's first term and just exceeds 10k.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

The volume & geographic distribution of protest nationwide during year 1 of Trump's second term was extraordinary.

Map showing tens of thousands of protests across the US between Trump's inauguration last year and January 31, 2026.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

As described in our piece, this figure shows the spikes in protest activity in Trump-leaning counties (above 0 on the y-axis) vs in Harris-leaning counties (below 0 on the y-axis) over time across his two administrations. Since April, the modal protest county voted for Trump.

A graph showing the spikes in protest activity in Trump-leaning counties (above 0 on the y-axis) vs in Harris-leaning counties (below 0 on the y-axis) over time across his two administrations. Since April, the modal protest county voted for Trump.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Privileged to write this editorial with @gretchentg.bsky.social of @ucs.org in @science.org: "Scientists’ role in defending democracy." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A red quotation mark graphic, followed by bold text excerpted from an August 14th Science magazine editorial by Gretchen Goldman and Erica Chenoweth, saying "The ability to tell the truth, especially when it does not suit any particular partisan aims, is an essential prerequisite for a free society."

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Here is the chart showing the growth of reported protest over time, 2025 vs. 2017, referenced in the piece below.

Line chart showing a steep blue line indicating the growth of the number of protests in 2015 over time, compared with a green line showing a more modest growth of the number of protests in 2017.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Mobilization has also been nationwide. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some activists are intentionally demonstrating in their local town rather than just traveling to a nearby big city for events.

A map of the US showing that very large numbers of events have taken place nationwide in April and May of 2025.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

My team and I at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@djpressman@bsky.social, Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) have a new piece out: wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/amer.... In it, we show that through May 2025, the size and scale of anti-Trump protests have dwarfed those in 2017. 🧵

A line chart with a blue line showing a large growth of protest events from Jan 20 - May 31, 2025, and a green line showing the relatively modest growth of protest events during the same period in 2017.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

If you ever wondered why @harvard.edu is so vigorously defending the right for international students to enroll here, just read about Magaga Enos, a new HGSE admit from Kenya. Our whole community benefits when students like him are among us. Excerpts here, full story linked below.

Description of a Kenyan man feeling devastated when he found out about Trump's presidential proclamation banning international students from enrolling in Harvard. He had been admitted, granted a visa, and bought a plane ticket departing July 4. He did not know what to tell his grandmother, who had sold her farm and cattle to help pay for his education.

Description of the man's dedication to girls' education, motivated by his mother's experience. Explanation that he and his family and friends are financing his education by selling land and possessions, a GoFundMe page, and financial aid from Harvard.

Picture of the new admitted student and his grandmother.

Description of the Harvard International Office's message resonating with the man and his family, including his grandmother, who has hope that he might be able to attend.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

The 245-year-old American Academy of Arts & Sciences releases a statement rejecting assaults on scholarly and cultural institutions, the rule of law, & open inquiry--and calls on all Americans to "help fortify" democratic civic culture. www.amacad.org/news/board-s...

A statement rejecting Trump's assault on universities, hospitals, and laboratories, censorship of scholarly and cultural institutions, curtailment of press freedom, and attempts to purge inquiry or ideas that challenge prevailing policies. The statement also reaffirms truth, freedom, constitutional values, and calls on all citizens to help fortify a democratic civic culture.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

My university has a policy that our leadership won't take positions on public or social issues outside of its core mission. But the policy also says they *must* speak out in situations like the one we currently face, according to the policy's authors (from last May): www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/o...

Excerpt from an op-ed by Noah Feldman & Allison Simmons explaining what Harvard's institutional voice policy compels its leaders to speak out and fight back if the Trump administration follows through on its demand to redistribute money from large university endowments to support his own ideological projects.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Yesterday my colleague Steve Levitsky and I sat down to share where we are in the US in the context of democratic backsliding and what can be done about it. Grateful as always to be in conversation with him and with the folks who attended. You can watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS-n...

Screenshot of Erica Chenoweth & Steven Levitsky speaking on an Ash Center webinar.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

ICMYI: reported protests in the US in 2025 are almost certainly outpacing protests during Trump 1.0. In March 2025, we recorded significant growth in the number of cumulative events, and also an uptick in the rate of events (# of protests/week).

Line graph showing comparison of reported protests from Jan 22 through March 31 in both 2017 and 2025. The graph shows 3X more events in 2025 than in the same period in 2017, as well as some prominent upticks in the rate of events per week in 2025.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

4/ When we compare the volume of events so far in 2025 against those in 2017, we estimate that March 2025 was a much more active month than March 2017, from what we were able to observe then and now.

A line chart showing large jumps in the number of protests week over week in March 2025, compared with a steadier stream of protests recorded in March 2017.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

2/ In March 2025, we saw protests in all 50 states, including in deep red parts of the country.

A map of the lower 48 states in the US, showing protests in each one (Hawaii and Alaska excluded from the image).

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Lately I've seen many references to the 3.5% rule. A few years ago I pulled together this Q&A on potential uses and misuses of this statistic. www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/defaul...

The cover page for a discussion paper called "Questions, Answers, and Some Cautionary Updates Regarding the 3.5% Rule" by Erica Chenoweth. In the image, peaceful protesters can be seen in front of the US Capitol building.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Powerful remarks by Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan in Northampton MA at a Patrick's Day Breakfast on March 17. 1/2

Sullivan invokes his heritage as an Irish American to call for others to denounce the dehumanizing of immigrants today.

Sullivan quotes Thomas Paine to call for Irish Americans to stand up for the country’s constitution and its principles.

Sullivan describes the discrimination faced by Irish immigrants, and their fortitude in creating a better life and shaping this country’s history, including during the Civil War when the Irish Brigade made huge battlefield sacrifices.

Sullivan calls on his audience to remember the sacrifices made by Irish Americans’ ancestors who fought for equality and liberty for all.

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Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Chart of cumulative protests reported from Jan 22 - Feb 28, 2017 vs 2025:

Chart showing double the number of protests in 2025 than occurred during the same time period in 2017.

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