The 2012 national election continues to be a puzzle. Barack Obama won reelection with a solid 51 percent of the vote, and Democrats picked up 2 Senate seats, expanding their majority to 55-45. Yet the House of Representatives remained in Republican control, 234-201, yielding the divided government we have today. … […] Read more »
A New Budget for a New Party
The keening on the left about President Obama’s budget proposal this week suggests that large portions of the Democratic base still don’t understand the political and economic dynamics of the party’s changing electoral coalition. Much of this year’s Washington story is about Obama aligning the Democratic agenda with the priorities […] Read more »
The ‘Emerging Democratic Majority’ Isn’t Assured—Unless the GOP Refuses to Change
The future of the GOP has been up for debate since its defeat in last November’s elections, and for the most part the question has been not if, but how Republicans should change. … The problem for Republicans is simple: They built relatively durable, ideological coalitions immediately before a new […] Read more »
How Baby Boomers Became Pro-Pot Legalization
The debate over marijuana legalization tends to focus on seniors who use the drug for medicinal purposes. But—and with apologies to old people—what if the aging and the sick aren’t really the cohort that will wind up swaying undecideds on the issue? [cont.] Brian Fung, National Journal Recent polls: Marijuana Read more »
The Young are the Restless
The surge of generational change continues in this country, altering the cultural landscape with a speed and intensity that has rarely — if ever — been seen before. … The millennial generation is the generation of change. Millennials’ views on a broad range of policy issues are so different from […] Read more »
Shifts on same-sex marriage come from surprising groups
It’s not just Democrats and liberals who are the reason for the shift on gay marriage. Beneath the broad support from liberal-leaning demographic groups, is the fact that some of the biggest shifts in favor of gay marriage since 2004 have been from some more unlikely, conservative-leaning blocs — blue-collar […] Read more »