Most Americans continue to say that it would be “too risky” to give the nation’s presidents more power, but the share expressing this opinion has declined since last year, with most of the change coming among Republicans. Currently, 66% of the public says “it would be too risky to give […] Read more »
Who’s to blame for mass shootings? On that, some bipartisan agreement
Americans overwhelmingly blame the mental health system, racism and white nationalism, and loose gun laws for a series of mass shootings that have shaken communities across the country. A USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll taken Monday and Tuesday, in the wake of deadly violence in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, shows […] Read more »
Can Trump’s Words Incite Violence?
This installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast deals with two mass shootings this weekend, one of which was explicitly tied to white nationalist terrorism. On Saturday, a young white man targeted immigrants and killed at least 20 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in an attack being investigated […] Read more »
A Fourth Texas Republican Congressman Plans to Retire in 2020
Representative Kenny Marchant of Texas is planning to announce his retirement on Monday, according to two Republican officials, becoming the fourth Republican House member from Texas in recent weeks to head for the exits rather than face re-election in 2020 in a state that is rapidly becoming more competitive. … […] Read more »
For Democrats, and for Republicans, a summer of discontent
This has been a rough week for Republicans and for Democrats. As the long August recess begins, these are not happy times for either political party. The Democratic presidential candidates put on two nights of debating in Detroit, producing maximum internal bickering and negativity and minimal positive or outward messaging […] Read more »
How top-two primaries encourage candidates to broaden their appeal to a wider range of voters
In the last 15 years Washington and California have implemented an electoral system called the top-two primary, which reformed the structure of primary and general elections in their states. Under this system, all candidates running for a given seat (aside from the presidency) run in the same primary election, regardless […] Read more »