Amy Fried is professor emerita of political science at the University of Maine. Her most recent book is At War with Government: How Conservatives Weaponized Distrust from Goldwater to Trump, co-authored by Douglas B. Harris. Fried is also the author of Pathways to Polling: Crisis, Cooperation, and the Making of Public Opinion Professions; Muffled Echoes: Oliver North and the Politics of Public Opinion; and many shorter works in scholarly edited volumes and journals. She will be president of the New England Political Science Association from 2024–2025. Erin O’Brien is associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research has appeared in American Journal of Political Science, Perspectives on Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and Women & Politics. She is also author of three books: The Politics of Massachusetts Exceptionalism: Reputation Meets Reality, co-edited with Jerold Duquette; The Politics of Identity: Solidarity Building among America’s Working Poor; and Diversity in Contemporary American Politics and Government, co-edited with David A. Dulio. O’Brien’s commentary appears in outlets including All Thing Considered (NPR), The Atlantic, The Associated Press (AP), Christian Science Monitor, The Economist, Marketplace (NPR), Newsweek, The New York Times, PBS Newshour, The Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. Locally, she is a regular commentator for Boston25, GBH, and NBC10 Boston.
