… White backlash against rising racial tensions and urban violence in the 1960s was considered a boon to the Republican Party in general and to Richard Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign to restore law and order in particular. Trump echoed those earlier campaigns in calling for “law and order” after the […] Read more »
Public Opinion Context: Americans, Race and Police
The deaths of five police officers in Dallas, along with the recent deaths of two black men in Louisiana and Minnesota at the hands of police, highlighted — again — the importance of understanding attitudes of the American public, including blacks and whites, toward the police and criminal justice system. […] Read more »
Bill Clinton, O.J. Simpson, Clarence Thomas, and the Politics of 1990s Racial Backlash
The 1990s are being relitigated, and for the most part, coming off rather badly. It has taken place in the realm of politics, where Hillary Clinton has had to edge away from some of her husband’s policies, some of which have provoked angry confrontations on the campaign trail between the […] Read more »
The Politics of Firearms Control
The first serious effort by the federal government to control firearms was The National Firearms Act of 1934 …. The bill was passed on 18 June 1934. The Act taxed the sale of machine guns, sawed off shotguns or rifles, and silencers. … Unfortunately, from 1934 when firearms control was […] Read more »
How Immigration and Concerns about Cultural Change are Shaping the 2016 Election
… Americans remain firmly committed to an immigration policy that would allow illegal immigrants a way to become citizens, compared to other policy options. More than six in ten (61%) Americans say immigrants living in the U.S. illegally should be allowed a way to become citizens, provided they meet certain […] Read more »
How racial prejudice helps drive opposition to gun control
Last week, Sen. Chris Murphy made a small splash by filibustering on the Senate floor until, he said, Republicans agreed to allow a vote on a modest gun control measure. When the nation has debates like this, commentators often focus either on what was meant by the Second Amendment, or […] Read more »