Vox Sentences: Michigan sticks its thumb in the pollsters’ eye

A huge upset for Bernie Sanders in Michigan; Sony might fire music producer Dr. Luke (and why that matters); the lawsuit that could kill Gawker.

Vox Sentences is written by Dylan Matthews and Dara Lind.

TOP NEWS

Michiganders for Bernie Sanders

Scott Olson/Getty Images

• Bernie Sanders won Michigan's primary last night — a state in which polls had him down 20 points to Hillary Clinton.

• The result, as Nate Silver says, is one of the biggest polling errors in primary history.

  [FiveThirtyEight / Nate Silver]

• What went wrong? Well, in the micro sense, pollsters failed to take independent voters into account and underestimated the turnout of young voters.

  [Vox / Jeff Stein]

• More broadly, Sanders supporters argue, the quantitative tools that political analysts are using to determine who's ahead in the race are based on assumptions that the status quo will persist — which is exactly the theory Sanders is running against.

  [Salon / Daniel Denvir]

• So while Sanders is still behind in delegates — and actually fell even further behind last night, since he lost Mississippi by more than he won Michigan — his supporters say that's missing the point.

  [FiveThirtyEight]

• Meanwhile, Donald Trump had a fantastic night. Not only did he win 3 of 4 primaries, but his competitors — especially John Kasich and double especially Marco Rubio — looked weak. Sad!

  [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

• Rubio, for what it's worth, is so dead in the water that his rallies look like cheerleading squad practices.

  [The Gateway Pundit / Jim Hoft]

#FreedKesha?

Larry Busacca/Getty Images

• The entertainment publication the Wrap reported this morning that Sony plans to fire music producer Dr. Luke.

  [The Wrap / Matt Donnelly]

• A judge recently sided with the producer on a preliminary injunction in a suit filed against him by former protégé Kesha, who alleged he raped her. (Kesha is still under contract to him.)

  [Slate / Jesse Dorris]

• According to the Wrap, Sony is fed up with the legal and PR headache caused by the suit.

• Dr. Luke's lawyer says the Wrap report is bunk.

  [Time / Nolan Feeney]

• Furthermore, since Kesha is under contract to Dr. Luke as an individual as well as to Sony, it's not clear that Sony's dismissal would actually free Kesha.

  [Fusion / Kelsey McKinney]

• That doesn't mean the dismissal would be meaningless. It would be a sign that other women in the industry can actually cause change by speaking out in solidarity — as many female musicians did with Kesha.

  [Vox / Caroline Framke]

• And it would be good news for women in other industries, including academia, who are beginning to go public with the constant realities of sexual harassment in their fields.

  [NYT / A. Hope Jahren]

Hulk v. Gawk

Gerardo Mora/Getty Images

• This week, a Florida judge is hearing a $100 million lawsuit brought by Terry Bollea — better known as Hulk Hogan — against the new-media company Gawker for publishing a sex tape of Bollea in 2012.

  [Vox / Michelle Hackman]

• Bollea has argued that because he is not in fact Hulk Hogan, a private sex tape is an invasion of the privacy of a non-public figure.

  [NPR / Merrit Kennedy]

• Gawker's argument is that the First Amendment protects it broadly, and that this could have unsettling implications for other journalism about the doings of public figures.

  [Vox / Michelle Hackman]

• That might be true. But the immediate existential threat is to Gawker, which is facing steep legal costs (and would likely go into bankruptcy if forced to pay the $100 million).

  [The Guardian / Nicky Woolf]

• Even if Gawker survives in name, some believe the Hogan suit (and other high-profile fights over Gawker publishing about private lives) has made the company, once famous for taking no crap from anyone, a little more risk-averse.

  [Vox / Alex Abad-Santos]

• Last summer, Gawker founder Nick Denton famously said he wanted the site to be "20 percent nicer." The irony is that maybe, just maybe, a 20 percent nicer Gawker would never have posted the Hogan tape at all.

  [Capital New York / Peter Sterne]

MISCELLANEOUS

Straight Americans in 2009 were about half as likely to marry co-workers as their 1990 counterparts were. [Washington Post / Roberto Ferdman]

• Public health advocates sometimes sell breastfeeding by calling it "natural." That approach could backfire.

  [Slate / Elissa Strauss]

• Eclipsed, a new play starring Lupita Nyong'o, appears to be the first Broadway production with an all-female creative team. In 2016.

  [NY Mag / Bennett Marcus]

• TIL that the Trump family originates from the same German village as the Heinz ketchup dynasty.

  [The Guardian / Kate Connolly]

• A leftist defense of the Coen brothers' (delightful) Hail Caesar!, which "upholds basic Marxist premises."

  [Jacobin / Eileen Jones]

VERBATIM

"Due to an oversight involving a haphazardly-installed Chrome extension during the editing process, the name Donald Trump was erroneously replaced with the phrase 'Someone With Tiny Hands' when this story originally published." [Wired / Jason Tanz]

• "The only sequel to Mad Men that I can imagine is continuing the story of Sally Draper. I want to know what happens to her."

  [Matt Weiner to W / Lynn Hirschberg]

• "Why did I think living alone would be some kind of romantic ideal? Why did I think I’d be living like Carrie Bradshaw when my bathroom looks more like Ilana Glazer’s?"

  [The Guardian / Ruth Spencer]

• "The wonderful thing about Macdonald was that he relished this kind of abuse. He liked the smell of napalm in the morning, and wore it like after-shave."

  [NYT / Dwight Garner]

• "Few books risk such damage to the public understanding of science as those by Oliver James."

  [Spectator / Stuart Richie]

WATCH THIS

Prescription painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug [YouTube / Johnny Harris and German Lopez]

Vox / Johnny Harris

Explanatory journalism is a public good

At Vox, we believe that everyone deserves access to information that helps them understand and shape the world they live in. That's why we keep our work free. Support our mission and help keep Vox free for all by making a financial contribution to Vox today.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$95/year

$120/year

$250/year

$350/year

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $120/year

Yes, I'll give $120/year

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via