Americans remain hopeful about democracy despite fears of its demise – and are acting on that hope

Black voters are punishing anti-democratic candidates at the ballot box. AP Photo/Morry Gash Ray Block Jr, Penn State; Andrene Wright, Penn State, and Mia Angelica Powell, Penn State President Joe Biden will convene world leaders beginning on March 29, 2023, to discuss the state of democracies around the world. The […] Read more »

Republicans are trying to build a multiracial right – will it work?

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event on Feb. 16, 2023, in Exeter, N.H. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Joseph Lowndes, University of Oregon and Daniel Martinez HoSang, Yale Divinity School Former Republican South Carolina Governor and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley launched her bid for president recently […] Read more »

Why Red v. Blue Became Me v. You: Polarization, Part II

A political identity–being a liberal or Democrat (a “D”) versus being a conservative or Republican (an “R”)–has become viscerally more important to more Americans, reaching partisan intensities not seen for at least a century and not seen elsewhere in the western world. R’s and D’s have increasingly and heatedly differed […] Read more »

The Forces Tearing Us Apart Are Not Quite What They Seem

A toxic combination of racial resentment and the sharp regional disparity in economic growth between urban and rural America is driving the class upheaval in American partisanship, with the Republican Party dominant in working-class House districts and the Democratic Party winning a decisive majority of upscale House seats. Studies from […] Read more »

Large numbers of Americans want a strong, rough, anti-democratic leader

Many Americans, many of them Republicans, seek leaders who would violate basic principles of democracy. AP Photo/Ben Gray Tarah Williams, Allegheny College; Andrew Bloeser, Allegheny College, and Brian Harward, Allegheny College It might be comforting to think that American democracy has made it past the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. But […] Read more »

How Much Longer Can ‘Vote Blue No Matter Who!’ Last?

Over the past four decades, the percentage of white Democrats who identify themselves as liberal has more than doubled, growing at a much faster pace than Black or Hispanic Democrats. In 1984, according to American National Election Studies data, 29.8 percent of white Democrats identified as liberal; by 2020, that […] Read more »