Populism is hard to ignore in the current primary elections. Donald Trump, the self-described political outsider, is promising to “make America great again” by defending the people against Washington insiders, whom he portrays as self-interested, corrupt and incompetent. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont touts his track record as a longtime advocate of working people, ready to take on Wall Street and a corrupt campaign finance system.
As a result, many pundits proclaim that this election is ushering in a new era of populist politics.
But is populism really uncommon in U.S. presidential discourse? CONT.
Bart Bonikowski & Noam Gidron (Harvard), The Monkey Cage