Our expert survey results in May-June 2018 demonstrate significantly increased threat levels compared to April, with ratings worsening on all six dimensions of democratic performance. … The results give us clear reasons to be concerned about the future of American democracy. May and June saw increases in threat levels across […] Read more »
Where Did the Radical Right Come From?
BRING THE WAR HOME The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America By Kathleen Belew … Kathleen Belew’s gripping study of white power, “Bring the War Home,” was written before the city of Charlottesville became a hashtag, and is largely concerned with activities from the 1970s and ’80s. But it is […] Read more »
The Democratic Party Hits a Fork in the Road
… Almost halfway through Donald Trump’s tempestuous first term, Democrats are divided between two visions of how they can dislodge the Republican dominance of Washington and most state governments. One camp believes the party’s best chance will come from targeting mostly white, Republican-leaning voters who are recoiling from Trump on […] Read more »
A bad week for Democrats gives rise to a big problem: Outrage could become an obstacle in midterms
Growing liberal agitation over a pivotal Supreme Court retirement and a simmering crisis of migrant child separation have left Democratic leaders scrambling to keep the political outrage they’d counted on to fuel midterm election wins from becoming a liability for the party. Internal party debates have broken into public view […] Read more »
Americans Motivated to Take Action On Key Issue Fights
… Hot-button issue fights are stronger motivators than topics that feel settled or too late to change. Specific activism related to key issues is also more likely to motivate progressives than more generic protests. Progressives feel most motivated by issues where there is lively, on-going national debate and a desired […] Read more »
Does incivility hurt democracy? Here’s what political science can tell us.
Last Saturday, the owner of the Red Hen in Lexington, Va., asked White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave her restaurant. Since that and other incidents, many have been debating the role civility should have in politics. The Washington Post editorial board warned that justifying certain types of […] Read more »