COS article on national news blog

Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish news blog featured the work of a College of Sciences professor recently.

Philip Pollock’s research was mentioned on The New York Times blog FiveThirtyEight last month and then was picked up by Andrew Sullivan. You can Sullivan’s the blog post here.

Below is a piece of the NYT’s story.

“Twenty years ago today, Magic Johnson told the world that he was H.I.V.-positive. What had been largely a “gay disease” in the public’s mind now had a very different face. Did this make a difference?

Philip H. Pollock III, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida, had an answer, thanks to a bit of good luck: he came upon a November 1991 poll in Florida that included questions about AIDS and, most crucially, he was in the field when Mr. Johnson made his announcement. By comparing the responses of people interviewed before and after the announcement, he could estimate its effect on public opinion about AIDS.”