… Our elections have become proxies for cultural identity, with voters attaching existential meaning to them. A recent Pew Research Center analysis concluded that “underlying the many policy disagreements between Biden and Trump voters is a more personal feeling of distrust and disillusionment that could make compromise all the more […] Read more »
Notes on the State of the 2020 Election
Key Points• Joe Biden is on track to exceed Barack Obama’s 2012 popular vote margin, but his victory in the key states is even narrower than Donald Trump’s in 2016.• Less than 2% of the national vote went to candidates other than Biden and Trump, a significant change from 2016.• […] Read more »
The 2020 Election Was A Good One For Republicans Not Named Trump
Republicans outperformed the polls up and down the ballot in the 2020 election, to the surprise even of many Republican political operatives and survey researchers. To be clear, Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Trump; Democrats will still control the House and still have a chance of picking up the Senate. […] Read more »
America Decided … America’s Divided: Everything Changed and Nothing Changed
Political analysis, by Bruce Mehlman of Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas. CONT. — pdf The OPINION TODAY email newsletter is a concise daily rundown of significant new poll results and insightful analysis. It’s FREE. Sign up here: opiniontoday.substack Read more »
What happened to that ‘blue wave’?
… As Americans have polarized, both the Democratic and Republican parties have become ever more central to politics. However, they have simultaneously lost their capacity to organize an effective collective response to social challenges. Democrats in particular have historically paid sporadic and superficial attention to the mechanics of voter engagement […] Read more »
Calif. governor faces pressure to choose a Latino to replace Harris in the Senate
Since California was carved out of Mexico and joined the union more than a century and a half ago, the state has never had a Latino representing it in the U.S. Senate. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) now has the opportunity to change that amid increasing pressure to do so. Two […] Read more »