Pennsylvania’s independent voters helped elect Democrat John Fetterman, seen here, over the GOP contender for the U.S. Senate seat, Mehmet Oz. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images Thom Reilly, Arizona State University In the end there was no red wave. And there was no blue wave. There was an independent wave. Pollsters and […] Read more »
The Politics of Respectability and Black Americans’ Punitive Attitudes
Existing research largely ignores Black support for punitive policies that target group members, even as this support challenges expectations of in-group favoritism and group solidarity. The current research fills this gap by leveraging a familiar concept: “the politics of respectability.” Building on historical and qualitative accounts of this worldview, which […] Read more »
Meet the Republicans Who Are Facing Down the Hard Right
… On Tuesday, McCarthy won House approval, in a party-line, 221 to 211, vote, to create a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, with Jim Jordan, one of the most outspoken supporters of Trump and the MAGA movement in Congress, as its chairman. It’s possible, although not […] Read more »
Kevin McCarthy’s flailing bid for Speaker of the House is not (only) about ideological differences
… Students of history and political science alike may note that extra-ideological factors are common in determining who wins leadership elections. Speakers have included both members near the middle and extremes of the distribution of ideological scores for their party, for example. Yet what is different this time is that […] Read more »
A Thermostatic Model of Congressional Elections
Congressional elections often are considered a referendum on presidents. Popular presidential candidates produce coattails in presidential election years and can limit voters’ typical desires for partisan balancing in midterms. But the president’s party tends to lose congressional seats and vote share in midterms even with high popularity. We argue that […] Read more »
Public Opinion Roots of Election Denialism
Although the hardest dividing line between those who accept the election of Joe Biden as legitimate is partisan, there is still variation within the Republican Party between those who accept the 2020 election and those who do not. Among those who do not accept the outcome, they differ as to […] Read more »