Earlier this month, I wrote about research by social scientists at Brown and the University of Michigan who reported that despite the fact that President Obama won a higher percentage of the white vote than any Democratic presidential nominee since 1976, racial resentment had increased during Obama’s first term. Over […] Read more »
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll
The February Kaiser Health Tracking Poll focuses on some of the health policy implications of this winter’s national debate over gun violence, gun control and the adequacy of the nation’s response to the needs of those living with serious mental illness. The survey finds that one in five Americans have […] Read more »
The Persistence of Racial Resentment
Although there was plenty of discussion during the 2012 presidential campaign about the Hispanic vote and how intense black turnout would be, the press was preoccupied with the white vote: the white working class, white women and upscale whites. Largely missing from daily news stories were references to research on […] Read more »
Obama’s Unwanted Legacy: The Renewed Influence of ‘Old-Fashioned Racism’
As he looks back on his first term, President Barack Obama can take satisfaction from a series of significant accomplishments. But according to a new analysis by a Brown University political scientist, his rise to power has also produced a less-welcome result: A renewed alignment between political preference and “old-fashioned […] Read more »
The Growing Electoral Clout of Blacks Is Driven by Turnout, Not Demographics
Blacks voted at a higher rate this year than other minority groups and for the first time in history may also have voted at a higher rate than whites, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of census data, election day exit poll data and vote totals from selected cities […] Read more »
Support for Gay Marriage Growing, but U.S. Remains Divided
Supreme Court justices tend to say they are not influenced by public opinion. But they do sometimes take account of state-by-state trends, and the latest developments will not escape their notice as they take up two cases related to same-sex marriage. Support for same-sex marriage among the public has been […] Read more »