Former President Donald Trump has blamed the election results on unfounded claims of fraud and malfeasance. But at the top levels of his campaign, a detailed autopsy report that circulated among his political aides paints a far different — and more critical — portrait of what led to his defeat. […] Read more »
Is Trump’s ‘big lie’ Democrats’ big chance to entice Republican voters?
Would Republicans in Washington stand by Donald Trump’s “big lie” if they knew it could cost the party a fifth of its voters? A nationally representative Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in the days following the Capitol insurrection confirmed the large number of Republicans who believe Trump’s false assertion that the 2020 […] Read more »
77 Days: Trump’s Campaign to Subvert the Election
… A New York Times examination of the 77 democracy-bending days between election and inauguration shows how, with conspiratorial belief rife in a country ravaged by pandemic, a lie that Mr. Trump had been grooming for years finally overwhelmed the Republican Party and, as brake after brake fell away, was […] Read more »
How America Changed During Donald Trump’s Presidency
Donald Trump stunned the political world in 2016 when he became the first person without government or military experience ever to be elected president of the United States. His four-year tenure in the White House revealed extraordinary fissures in American society but left little doubt that he is a figure […] Read more »
How Many Voters Can GOP Senators Afford To Offend?
… One thing on the minds of a lot of strategists in both parties is what the residual effect of Trump will be on his party. An impressive amount of unreleased survey research—both quantitative polls and qualitative focus groups—since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol suggests that between 25 […] Read more »
What the Data Say About How Biden Should Govern
Last month, I examined the exit-poll data to answer the question How did Joe Biden win the presidential election? I distilled six “hard truths” that help explain his victory. Drawing on those findings, I want to turn to a related question: What lessons does his victory hold for how he […] Read more »