Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee who describes himself as “pro-life,” still has significant work to do to convince the anti-abortion voting bloc that he is on their side. Sixty-three percent of Americans who describe themselves as “pro-life” are unable to say whether they agree or disagree with Trump on […] Read more »
U.S. Decline Is Campaign Hype, Not Reality
As in any U.S. national election without an incumbent president, the candidates are painting a not very pretty picture: The country is “going to hell,” bluntly asserts the Republican front-runner Donald Trump. … Certainly, problems abound. The recovery from the 2008-09 recession has been uneven and is characterized by widening […] Read more »
Reaping as they sowed: How the culture wars are smiting the GOP
… If it wasn’t obvious before, it’s become hi-definition clear in the past few weeks that the culture wars, long a powerful wedge that Republicans wielded against the Democrats, have now become a dagger that cleaves GOP ranks down the middle. … The wedge of the culture wars still cuts […] Read more »
Trump is closer to what most Republicans believe than the ‘establishment’ candidates are
On Super Tuesday, Donald Trump continued his surprise series of wins, gaining seven out of the 11 states in play that day. In response, many are asking: Why have establishment candidates had such a hard time in this year’s Republican nomination contest? … To investigate, we have teamed up with […] Read more »
AP-NORC Poll: Pope Francis popular, but influence limited
Pope Francis’ comments Thursday that Donald Trump is “not a Christian” if he supports a wall along the Mexican border put the Republican presidential contender in the uncomfortable position of being pitted against a more popular political figure, according to recent polling on the pope’s standing among Americans and American […] Read more »
10 Factors That Will Determine the Next President
… What follows is an exploration of 10 factors that will probably determine the White House winner next year. Some of these — many of them, in fact — suggest that the GOP should be seen as a narrow favorite. But a few factors, combined with the live possibility that […] Read more »