West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is increasingly drawing the ire of progressive Democrats. With the slimmest of majorities in the Senate, Democrats need every vote and Manchin’s unwillingness to bend on issues such as filibuster reform is getting in the way of the party’s legislative priorities. But as I noted […] Read more »
An Autopsy of a Different Kind
It is always smart that a party conducts an after-action report after a tough electoral loss or disappointing election, ascertaining what went wrong and why, and to prevent it from happening again. … After their underwhelming results last year, Democrats and Democratic-aligned groups have conducted a number of such efforts. […] Read more »
Democracy Is Already Dying in the States
While Senator Joe Manchin is demanding that both parties agree on any further federal voting-rights legislation, a new study quantifies how completely Republicans have excluded Democrats from the passage of the restrictive voting laws proliferating in red states. In places such as Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, and Montana, the […] Read more »
Senator Joe Manchin Has a Point
… Democrats are offering something different than what they say: not an expansion of voting rights but a relaxation of voting regulations. The For the People Act would codify the looser rules many states adopted in order to conduct the 2020 elections in the midst of a pandemic. That election […] Read more »
Split Decision: An analysis of the 2020 presidential election
… The central strategic interaction for this election was between a better political and ideological environment in 2020 than 2016 for Republicans versus Biden’s strategy of focusing on personal qualities, given that his favorables were over 50% and Trump’s unfavorables were over 50%. This produced a slim 51% majority vote […] Read more »
Democrats Increasingly Say American Democracy Is Sliding Toward Minority Rule
The American political tradition enshrines majority rule, with rights for the minority. But some wonder whether the United States is sliding toward minority rule. More and more Democrats are saying the system is out of whack. Twice in the last 20 years, their presidential candidate got more votes but lost […] Read more »