Round One of the great Democratic primary debates is over. The consensus delivered by the political class seems to be that former Vice President Joe Biden underperformed, generally failing to meet expectations. So did Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren had a good night, albeit only sparring with […] Read more »
Biden, Harris, Busing, Compromise and Public Opinion
The most significant storyline coming out of the June 27/28 Democratic primary debates was Sen. Kamala Harris’ attack on front-runner Joe Biden’s opposition to school busing in the 1970s, while he was serving as U.S. senator from Delaware. … I find at least nine different times during the 1970s when […] Read more »
Effective but never popular, court-ordered busing is a relic few would revive
… The Supreme Court agreed, unanimously endorsing busing as a legitimate means of unraveling the segregation of children by race. The 1971 decision launched an explosive chapter in American history, touching off a long and polarizing battle that set public opinion against busing for decades, even as the programs succeeded […] Read more »
More on busing
In March, I had a post on public opinion concerning busing in the 1970s. I didn’t expect that to become an issue in the presidential campaign, but in the wake of the exchange between Kamala Harris and Joe Biden in last week’s debate people are talking about busing again (although […] Read more »
Context Is Critical When Parsing Biden’s Words
Few ardent supporters of former Vice President Joe Biden would argue with the suggestion that he chose his words poorly when discussing his ability to work with Sen. James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia in the context of the civility that once existed in the Senate. … […] Read more »
Support for Religiously Based Refusals to Serve a Range of Minority Groups is Small, but Increasing Over the Last Five Years
Just as the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a case of a bakery who refused to serve a gay couple due to the owner’s religious beliefs, a new PRRI survey finds that while at least two thirds of Americans oppose allowing small business owners to refuse products or […] Read more »