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Phil Rocco

@philiprocco.bsky.social
3.6K followers 2.6K following 1.2K posts

politologue // yinzer // co-editor of Publius: The Journal of Federalism // author of "Counting Like a State" kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700638758/co… Most posts are first drafts, comments welcome.

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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
news.gallup.com/poll/715010/...
news.gallup.com
Life Ratings of Young Adults Down 20 Points Since 2010
The percentage of U.S. adults under 30 who are classified as "thriving" in their personal lives is 20 points below the high mark for the group in 2010.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Whatever can be said about the limits of self-reported well-being as an indicator of American life, the generational divide in its trendlines astounds. For all adults under 65, self-reported “thriving” never rebounded to pre-pandemic baseline. For those age 65+, post pandemic represents a peak.
Graphic showing The percentage of U.S. adults aged 18 to 29 who evaluate their lives well enough to be considered “thriving” in Gallup’s Life Evaluation Index is 44% thus far in 2026, which is on pace through the first three quarters of the year to be 20 percentage points lower than the high of 64% measured in 2010. Most of the erosion has occurred since 2019. Following a modest decline over the course of the 2010s to 57% in 2019, a major drop to 39% occurred amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. After hitting that low point, the thriving rate for this group partially rebounded to 51% in 2023 before falling again.

Adults aged 30 to 44 show a similar decline. The percentage who are thriving among this group is 45% through the first three quarters of 2026, compared with a high of 62% in 2016 and 2017. Those aged 45 to 64 have not dropped as much as younger groups, but their 46% thriving rate to date in 2026 matches their low from 2008.

In contrast, Americans aged 65 and older show higher life evaluations than in the past, climbing fairly steadily from 38% in 2008 to 53% thus far in 2026, matching their record high from 2021.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
All the more reason for reorienting towards horizontal cooperation, as @jen-nelles.bsky.social, Jay Rickabaugh, and I argue. washingtonmonthly.com/2025/11/27/t...
washingtonmonthly.com
Trump’s Washington Is Ghosting States and Cities
States and cities are being abandoned by DC. Here’s how local leaders are building new alliances to survive Trump’s unpredictable federalism.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Under Trump’s federalism, states unaligned with the White House have options. You can be extorted, invaded, ignored. And if you cooperate to produce produce jobs/investment, you can have the privilege of being denied political credit.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A few months ago, I wrote about our feeble, brittle laws against propaganda for @donmoyn.bsky.social’s substack. Especially when propaganda is linked to cash, it’s time that we revisit the pathetic quality of what passes for checks against executive overreach: open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...
open.substack.com
The Federal Government is Emailing You Campaign Literature – Can Anyone Stop It?
Is it legal for Social Security to send you partisan propaganda? In theory, no…
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Levering’s call of the walk-off. Essential.
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Risa Brooks @risabrooks12.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
With Hegseth in the news this week, I’ve noticed him using a particular rhetorical tactic: packaging highly ideological messaging to the military & public w/ (superficially) reasonable & substantive policy proposals. Before I explain what he is up to and why it matters, here are three examples:
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Less than 1% of major party nominees for Congress are working class. It is one of the most fundamental ways that Congress is not representative. And their views, e.g. on unregulated gambling websites, are apt to be different. www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
bloomberg.com
Why Working-Class Candidates Are Almost Never on the Ballot
Less than 1% of major-party candidates competing for a seat in the US Congress have a background in manual trades or service industries.
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State Democracy Research Initiative @uwlawdemocracy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
In the upcoming November election, Wisconsinites will be asked to vote on three proposed amendments to the Wisconsin Constitution. In a series of explainers, we describe the proposals, identify arguments for and against, and assess likely impacts. statedemocracy.law.wisc.edu/our-work/nov... 1/4
statedemocracy.law.wisc.edu
November 2026 Proposed Wisconsin Constitutional Amendments
In the upcoming November 2026 election, Wisconsin voters will be asked to vote on three proposed amendments to the Wisconsin Constitution. These…
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Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Really important post by @datahistorian.bsky.social about the Trump Administration's threat (once again) to the census. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-2030-c...
donmoynihan.substack.com
The 2030 Census is in Trouble
Trump wants to add a citizenship question and ban questions on race
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
And, as ever: buy the book: bsky.app/profile/phil...
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
ICYMI: my @newrepublic.com column on how states, cities and NGOs can build on their work in the last cycle to save the 2030 Census.
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Grace Segers @gracesegers.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
New SNAP and Medicaid provisions from the OBBBA are taking affect today. Here's what to know: newrepublic.com/article/2157...
newrepublic.com
Trump’s “Big, Beautiful” Bill Is About to Screw With States’ Budgets
Already burdened with the need to fulfill strict requirements mandated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, state governments all across the country are about to face even higher costs.
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Dan Shafer @danshafer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"Three billionaires gave more than 90 percent of the money raised by Representative Tom Tiffany, the Republican nominee for governor of Wisconsin" Tom Tiffany is the most bought and paid for candidate we've ever seen in Wisconsin. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/u...
nytimes.com
3 Billionaires Have Largely Funded Republican Nominee for Wisconsin Governor (Gift Article)
Under its current rules, Wisconsin has not had a race in which a small number of donors have made up such a large share of a campaign’s funding.
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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Incredible chutzpah from a Congress whose one major legislative act was a budget bill that among other things imposed significant new administrative burdens on Medicaid recipients
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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
America.gov launched today--a DOGE initiative to use AI to deliver public services. Child lying facedown on a frozen lake as the image accompanying the question: "How can I invest in my child's future" is just incredible. Way to go AI
Image of a child lying facedown on a froze lake.  above is the portal where you ask AI questions about government services.  the question matching this image is:  "How can I invest in my child's future?"
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It's a good day to google "Foxconn," "Wisconsin," "Trump," "2018," "13,000 jobs" and "didn't happen, didn't even come close"
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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
New from @maschwar.bsky.social Melissa Schwartzberg, in response to Danielle Allen's repeated serious misreading of the moment and of the Trump administration's bad faith with respect to higher education. www.chronicle.com/article/dani...
chronicle.com
Danielle Allen Is Wrong About Trump
Dealmaking under duress is always undemocratic.
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Scholars Strategy Network @scholars.org · 29/09/2026
The Trump administration has proposed excluding noncitizens from the 2030 census count. In this @newrepublic.com op-ed, @philiprocco.bsky.social warns that the change would reshape representation and funding, and argues that states and localities must defend the count.
newrepublic.com
The Fight to Save the Census From Trump Starts Now
The administration’s proposed changes to the 2030 census will harm states and cities. Here is how they can fight back.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A while back @philiprocco.bsky.social wrote about how the Trump administration was already using government resources for propaganda messages in Social Security messaging. Is it illegal? Part of the problem is defining what counts as propaganda... donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-federa...
donmoynihan.substack.com
The Federal Government is Emailing You Campaign Literature – Can Anyone Stop It?
Is it legal for Social Security to send you partisan propaganda? In theory, no…
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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 23/09/2026
Litigation may stop this rule. Only states and cities, working with the organizations their residents trust, can make sure the count survives it. trib.al/YnaIlH7
trib.al
The Fight to Save the Census From Trump Starts Now
The administration’s proposed changes to the 2030 census will harm states and cities. Here is how they can fight back.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Still about two weeks to submit comments on this hideous proposed rule: handsoffourcens.us
handsoffourcens.us
Hands Off Our Census
The Census Bureau has proposed unprecedented changes to the 2030 Census. Public comment closes October 13, 2026. Here's what's proposed and how to weigh in.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Not @npr.org erasing the history of labor struggle in a segment on the origins of the eight-hour day.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The 2030 Census is now squarely in the Trump admin's crosshairs. But states, cities, counties, NGOs, and (yes) you can fight back. New from me in @newrepublic.com: newrepublic.com/article/2153...
newrepublic.com
The Fight to Save the Census From Trump Starts Now
The administration’s proposed changes to the 2030 census will harm states and cities. Here is how they can fight back.
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Norm Charlatan @normcharlatan.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This is a thread about an all-day academic conference of early research findings about the effects of Operation Metro Surge. Kind of harrowing to seeing the damage of the federal government’s combination ethnic cleansing/ideological terror campaign laid out like this.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Low-hanging fruit in next WI legislative session: a bill to require that the state print and distribute a ballot pamphlet with a plain-language summary of any referenda, along with analysis, pro-cons, supporters/opponents.
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The Washington Sun @washingtonsun.com · 15/09/2026
Senate Democrats release a report that says immigration officers got little training and “magic” data when looking for noncitizen voters.
washingtonsun.com
Whistleblower Says DHS’s Hunt for Unlawful Voting May Have Broken State Laws
Senate Democrats release a report that says immigration officers got little training and “magic” data when looking for noncitizen voters.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The Douthat piece where he talks about the importance of AI closes with a sponsorship notice from a healthcare company using AI to deny claims.
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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 12/09/2026
Program's up! 30+ teams share evidence abt impacts on health, educ, & econ + community response. Great folks @ziibiing.com @ottergoose.net @aaronrosenthal.bsky.social @chrisuggen.bsky.social @casemcnich.bsky.social @ngraetz.bsky.social @craigstetter.bsky.social docs.google.com/document/u/1...
Documenting the Impact of US DHS Activity in MN

Conference Date: Sept 22, 2026

Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs

Purpose

In December 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began a significant, sustained agent surge in Minnesota that affected the daily lives of many residents, but had severe impacts on immigrant communities and communities of color.

This one-day, in-person convening provides researchers from across disciplines and organizations with an opportunity to share and discuss research related to the effects of Operation Metro Surge and Operation PARRIS.
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Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
USPS Rejects Florida County’s Mail Ballot Envelope Design over Return Address Being 0.014 of An Inch Too Close electionlawblog.org/2026/usps-re...
electionlawblog.org
USPS Rejects Florida County’s Mail Ballot Envelope Design over Return Address Being 0.014 of An Inch Too Close #ELB
A taste of what would happen if the USPS mail ballot rules were in effect: The U.S. Postal Service — which President Donald Trump hopes to deploy to restrict mail voting in the November election — rec...
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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
All I ask is for political journalists to get merely as angry about this as they did when Obama tried to move Fox News's seat to the second row in the WH briefing room.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
This is extremely well done.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
More here: bsky.app/profile/phil...
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This is why, as I document in Counting Like a State (University Press of Kansas, 2025), the investments of states, cities, counties, towns, tribes, and NGOs are more essential than ever to confronting the climate of distrust the federal government is now actively involved in creating.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
2.) The nakedly illegal residency rule is but half the story. Even if the rule is struck down by a court, Congress, or a subsequent admin, the current policy actions will further chill census participation in communities that are already historically undercounted.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Any story about how the citizenship question got to the Trump administration has to begin and end with Tom Hofeller and redistricting. It has no other purpose than to lock in Republican power. www.commoncause.org/resources/th...
commoncause.org
The Hofeller Files
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
1.) The story of the residency rule is a gerrymandering story, not an immigration story. The idea has its genesis in redistricting strategists who argued that CVAP-only redistricting would engineer a shift in legislative representation that benefited "Republicans and non-Hispanic whites".
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Today, the Trump administration proposed a draft rule (which we've known was coming for months) that, among other things, would take the unprecedented step of excluding a large number of noncitizens from population data in violation of the text of the 14th amendment. Two thoughts on this: 🧵
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Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law @jhppl.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Finally, book reviews! @philiprocco.bsky.social reviewed "Ripples of Hope in the Mississippi Delta: Charting the Health Equity Policy Agenda" by the late David Kline Jones, which examines the stark disparities that define life in the Mississippi Delta. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...
read.dukeupress.edu
Ripples of Hope in the Mississippi Delta: Charting the Health Equity Policy Agenda | Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law | Duke University Press
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Fantastic project!
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
If you’re at #APSA26, stop by our Annual Review of American Federalism Roundtable today at 2 pm in the Westin (Parliament). Some excellent work on federal extortion, the federalization of the National Guard, party nationalization, Medicaid retrenchment, and AI policy conflicts.
Poster advertising roundtable on Annual Review of American Federalism.
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Frank Pasquale @frankpasquale.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Note “the possibility of communities forming compacts that establish minimum terms for data center development, allowing them to prevent firms from playing various jurisdictions against one another in a race to the bottom.” www.thetechbubble.info/p/the-future...
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
It would seem that the current infrastructure (decentralized production with centralized harmonization and reporting) would lend itself to exactly what you suggest (as indicated also by present efforts). Sobering though it is to consider, I think we can’t avoid this option now.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
At this point, I am increasingly attracted to the notion of creating a national parastatal organization that follows the data protocols CDC is ignoring here. Not the only agency that relies on state inputs to which this idea might be profitably applied, I’m sad to say.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Long live the .pdf!
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Arrianna Marie Planey, PhD MA @arrianna-planey.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
It's really looking like AI-free classrooms will be for students at "elite" or "top" schools.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Would be curious to see how opinion on “hardball” (bad term) moves when you connect it to material stakes. One of the big failures of the Dem. institutional reform talk imo is that it never articulates what would happen if, say, court reform occurred. Student debt jubilee? Health care? &c
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Unlike AI, the benefit-cost ratio for cheese is certainly >1.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Unlike AI, the benefit-cost ratio for cheese is certainly >1.
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Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
condescending to a Wisconsin audience with a cheese-based analogy is…a choice.
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