The blog was created in 2007 by a small group of academics, in a quest to get people interested in their political science research.
It soon attracted writers, gained readers, and won awards[1] In 2013, it entered into a three-year publishing deal with The Washington Post, which was renewed several times over the years.
[1][7] The blog's contents have been described as a form of explainer-journalism,[7] as the blog primarily published short editorials by academic political scientists who summarized their political-science research or apply political science to current events.
[8][9] Political scientist Erik Voeten was an editor on The Monkey Cage for some time.
[9] According to John M. Sides, the blog was visited by 719,000 people and viewed over 2 million times from November 2007 and December 2010.