… Republicans are more than confident that they will hold or even expand their House majority this fall. And they are increasingly optimistic about taking control of the Senate. The danger is that party leaders and perhaps some of the prospective GOP presidential candidates will conclude that success in November […] Read more »
Rural vs. Urban: Behind the Political Divide in America
American politics have become increasingly divided in recent years. One reason: Rural residents are having vastly different life experiences from their big-city counterparts. Wall Street Journal Read more »
Republicans Versus an Informed Public
At regular intervals, congressional Republicans take aim at government surveys, vowing to end or curtail them for being too intrusive. The latest target is the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Begun in 2005 with bipartisan support, the survey polls about three million people a year on family configurations, educational levels, […] Read more »
Groucho Marx’s Republican Party
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.” —Groucho Marx In just a few words, Groucho Marx summed up the current state of the Republican Party heading into the 2016 presidential elections. Since the start of George W. Bush’s […] Read more »
What Arizona Can Tell Us About the Fault Lines in American Politics
Arizona hasn’t produced many competitive elections lately, but it retains a knack for crystallizing the most volatile fault lines in American politics. In 2010, Republican Gov. Jan Brewer’s signing of the stringent anti-immigration measure known as SB 1070 dramatized the colliding worldviews of a Democratic coalition centered on younger minorities […] Read more »
California Democrats Worry About Voter Turnout as They Gather for Convention
You’d be hard pressed to find a state deeper blue than California. Democrats dominate statewide politics, Jerry Brown seems headed for an easy re-election, and Republicans have had a tough time fielding credible statewide candidates. Yet, as Democrats gather in Los Angeles this weekend for their annual party convention, there […] Read more »