Inside Washington, there’s a sense that this scandal really is different. Even the White House’s memorandum of the phone conversation President Trump had with the Ukrainian president in July makes it clear that Mr. Trump asked a foreign country to help him undermine a political rival. But while national polls […] Read more »
How To Talk About Trump’s Border Wall
Americans oppose building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico by a narrow 4-point margin (46% support, 50% oppose). In the same survey, approval of Trump is just 41%, meaning the wall could provide the president a tool to win over skeptics if progressives don’t make their case. However, […] Read more »
The Tea Party Didn’t Get What It Wanted, but It Did Unleash the Politics of Anger
In the late summer of 2009, as the recession-ravaged economy bled half a million jobs a month, the country seemed to lose its mind. … Ten years since that summer of rage, the ideas that animated the Tea Party movement have been largely abandoned by Republicans under President Trump. Trillion-dollar […] Read more »
Economic Anxiety Among Voters Is a Sign of Vulnerability for Trump
Americans’ confidence in the economy is fragile, with a majority of voters expressing concern — a potential vulnerability for President Trump if the current economic slowdown worsens before next year’s election. The stock market tumbled last week after bond prices flashed a signal that has historically been a predictor of […] Read more »
Could the public do better than Congress at controlling the deficit?
Many observers are shaking their heads in bewilderment as Congress has — in the midst of a thriving economy and low unemployment, and with barely a debate — sidestepped its own spending caps and adopted a near-trillion-dollar deficit. Are Americans any more capable of making the hard choices that Congress […] Read more »
Government: The Most Important Issue Facing 2020 Candidates
The American public’s broad concerns about the role of the federal government in their lives have evolved into, I believe, the most important issue in our current political environment. Debates over the role of government have defined the American Experience going back to the nation’s founding — but now more […] Read more »