Over the long course of the Republican presidential nomination process in 2015 and 2016, we frequently featured a diagram called “The Republicans’ Five-Ring Circus.” The chart was based on the idea that the GOP essentially consisted of five different constituencies: the establishment wing, the moderate wing, the tea party, libertarians […] Read more »
Trump’s Wall Could Cost Him in 2020
President Donald Trump may now be talking more about steel than cement, but his proposed border wall remains the Rosetta Stone for understanding both his conception of the presidency and his political strategy. Nothing better illustrates Trump’s political calculus than his determination to build the wall, a goal that most […] Read more »
This is why Republicans and Democrats aren’t talking to each other in Washington
The geographic and demographic separation between the two political parties, and the two Americas, has reached a new peak in the House of Representatives. In the 116th Congress sworn in last week, Republicans and Democrats now control districts that represent virtual mirror images of each other across a wide range […] Read more »
White right? How demographics is changing US politics
Monica Duffy Toft, Tufts University When Donald Trump was campaigning to become the U.S. president, much of the discussion about his growing popularity focused on so-called “angry white males,” who had been struggling through years of declining economic opportunities. Their frustration led some of them to adopt and espouse white […] Read more »
Why the New Democratic Majority Could Work Better Than the Last
The new Democratic majority that takes command of the House on Thursday starts with 21 fewer seats than the party held the last time it elected Nancy Pelosi as speaker. But this new majority may prove easier for the party to both manage legislatively and defend electorally. Though slightly smaller, […] Read more »
In Orange County, a Republican Fortress Turns Democratic
… The Democratic capture of four Republican-held congressional seats in Orange County in November — more than half the seven congressional seats Democrats won from Republicans in California — toppled what had long been a fortress of conservative Republicanism. The sweep stunned party leaders, among them Paul D. Ryan, the […] Read more »