Last week’s British election illustrated one of the most remarkable developments in recent elections: the propensity of younger generations not only to vote but also to vote overwhelming for older socialist leaders advocating left-wing economic policies last fashionable during the 1970s. This cleavage between younger and older voters seems to […] Read more »
How attitudes about immigration, race and religion contributed to Trump victory
The story of President Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton has been analyzed and reanalyzed, told and retold since November. Is there more to add? The short answer, based on four reports released on Tuesday, is yes, and what the reports say is provocative. The reports debunk some of the assertions […] Read more »
The Impact of ‘Modern Sexism’ on the 2016 Presidential Election
On June 6, 2016, Hillary Clinton became the first woman to earn a majority of pledged delegates to secure a major party’s presidential nomination. … Does Clinton’s successful nomination denote a post-sexist political environment, reflecting a steady change in attitudes over the years? Is her successful nomination a watershed moment […] Read more »
The Democratic Party Is in Worse Shape Than You Thought
Sifting through the wreckage of the 2016 election, Democratic pollsters, strategists and sympathetic academics have reached some unnerving conclusions. What the autopsy reveals is that Democratic losses among working class voters were not limited to whites; that crucial constituencies within the party see its leaders as alien; and that unity […] Read more »
Negative partisanship may be the most toxic form of polarization
… The big question in the 2016 election was whether Trump would underperform a traditional Republican. Historically, it is hard for an American party to win a third presidential term. It has only happened once (1988) since World War II. Had the Republicans thrown away a great opportunity by nominating […] Read more »
Absent a More Progressive Economics, the Democrats Will Lose
The challenge Democrats face today—uniting a broad coalition of working class Americans that spans racial, regional, gender, and generational lines—is far from new, but it has not always been this daunting. … Where working people of all races once helped deliver Democratic victories under Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, winning a […] Read more »