Editor's Note

Dear Reader, How do we understand the country we’re in? It’s a near-impossible task, but one we shoulder as journalists. This week, FM has participated in building-wide efforts to describe the state of politics. News has been hard at work covering Massachusetts’ ballot questions and other local election happenings. But the magazine, true to form, is taking a more meta approach and writing about how we come to understand political discourse in the first place. This week’s scrutiny is about the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll, a collaborative project between the Government Department and a private research firm that surveys public opinion each month about the most pressing issues in politics. Wyatt J. Meyer and Uy B. Pham have worked incredibly hard on this story, parsing through obscure technical details and pouring over every word to ensure it is both accurate and legible. What does public opinion even mean, and how can anyone design a poll to ensure that public opinion is what they’re capturing? How do the Harvard CAPS-Harris pollsters reconcile with the fact that many professors, pollsters, and students are skeptical of the poll’s methodology? Well, I suppose you’ll have to read the cover story to find out. The meta-analysis of political discourse continues in our 15Q for the week. Charan S. Bala talks to IOP director John Della Volpe, who has gained insight into Gen Z’s political behavior through extensive surveys and interviews with young people. And Anne Sun turns the analysis inward, telling the story of her own changing perspective on the United States through her training in the ROTC. Elsewhere in the issue, political themes take more subtle forms. Somerset Seidenberg learns how self-governance shapes Deep Springs graduates. The Isabel(le)s capture the quirks of the Swiss Watchmaker — a steadfast fixture of Harvard Square despite the area’s high business turnover. Leah E. Riegel writes about the history of micromobility, and her love of scooters. S.I. Lara Jayanti reflects on how fearing the natural world might explain growing ecological disruption. Finally, Aryana Hou experiments with who belongs in public space. We’re so proud of all our writers, especially our compers, for taking on deceptively simple stories that manage to capture big and important questions about the country and the world today. Happy Halloween, and don’t forget to vote! KJK + AJBS