President Donald Trump’s approval rating has once again reached 40%, while earning high marks for his handling of the government’s response to recent hurricanes, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. A broad 64% of Americans say they approve of how Trump’s government reacted to the recent storms, […] Read more »
Why the wiring of our brains makes it hard to stop climate change
… Humans aren’t well wired to act on complex statistical risks. We care a lot more about the tangible present than the distant future. Many of us do that to the extreme — what behavioral scientists call hyperbolic discounting — which makes it particularly hard to grapple with something like […] Read more »
Why Republicans are frozen on climate change
The swirling winds, pounding rains and enveloping floods of hurricanes Irma in Florida and Harvey in Texas have left deep scars across two of the nation’s largest states. But it’s still unlikely that these irresistible forces will dislodge one of Washington’s most immovable objects: the steadfast resistance of President Donald […] Read more »
In Texas, Distrust of Washington Collides with Need for Federal Aid
Few places need the federal government right now more than Texas does, as it begins to recover from Hurricane Harvey. Yet there are few states where the federal government is viewed with more resentment, suspicion and scorn. For Republicans, who dominate Texas government, anti-Washington sentiment is more than just a […] Read more »
After Harvey, many Texans will think differently about hurricane risks
Interstate 69 in Humble, Texas is covered by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017. AP Photo/David J. Phillip Wanyun Shao, Auburn University and Siyuan Xian, Princeton University Hurricane Harvey was the most powerful hurricane to strike the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Wilma in 2005. It also […] Read more »
The Politics of Disasters
Throughout the first 200-plus days of Donald Trump’s presidency, it’s been common for analysts to say he is struggling through sub-40% approval ratings despite not having to reckon with a major non-scandal crisis. Whether that was true before last weekend is debatable — do North Korea’s provocations count? — but […] Read more »