Personal popularity, a large black electorate, fewer liberals and a fondness for Obama-era policies threw a lifeline to former Vice President Joe Biden in South Carolina — while preliminary exit poll results found Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders lagging in favorability and perceived sensitivity to racial issues alike. In handing Biden […] Read more »
Aging, Rising, Brainy, Booming: Super Tuesday Economies Pose Wider Test
The first few contests in the Democratic presidential primary race have been fought in states that are small and somewhat quirky economically. There aren’t many states where voters care as much about ethanol subsidies as they do in Iowa, or where culinary unions wield as much power as in Nevada. […] Read more »
Voters Who’ll Support Biden — But Not Sanders — Probably Really Do Mean It
… For the last 12 years, I’ve overseen a long-running panel survey of Americans’ political attitudes that sheds light on how their political views have evolved, and one of the questions I’ve consistently asked is who panelists would back in a general election. And as of our most recent survey […] Read more »
Is the African American vote about to fracture or unify?
African Americans have long had a reputation for voting together, serving as a firewall for Democrats in general elections and collectively crowning the eventual nominee in Democratic presidential primaries. But that reputation is a product of party politics and a primary process that gives black voters little say until a […] Read more »
Will South Carolina Rearrange the Democratic Race?
Following the Nevada caucuses, the political narrative was pretty well settled. Bernie Sanders’ big win cemented his place as the frontrunner and the likely nominee. Biden had long counted on a South Carolina win, but his so-called firewall was looking anything but reliable. Four polls released between mid-February and the […] Read more »
‘Come to Jesus’ Moment for Dems
At the risk of adding religion to the already incendiary subject of politics, Democrats are approaching what Southerners often call a “come to Jesus” moment, namely the realization that there is a pretty good chance Bernie Sanders builds up an insurmountable lead, or close to it, on Super Tuesday. If […] Read more »