The Impact of Increased Political Polarization

As I write this, the House Intelligence Committee has voted to adopt the committee’s Impeachment Inquiry Report along strict party lines. All 13 Democrats on the committee voted “Yes”; all nine Republican committee members voted “No.” This party-line split is neither unusual nor unpredictable, but reflects the deep partisanship that […] Read more »

Mormons and White Evangelicals Are Divided Over Trump

For much of Donald Trump’s presidency, scholars and journalists have invested considerable time trying to understand white evangelical Protestants’ unwavering support for the president. However, there is another highly religious, Republican-leaning group that Trump has struggled to win over: Americans who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day […] Read more »

The surprising second choices of Democratic primary voters upend political cliches

To many observers, the Democratic presidential primary has highlighted the “profound ideological divides between the Democratic Party’s moderate and progressive wings,” as an Associated Press article put it — two wings locked in a bitter fight for control. … Perhaps that’s how Democratic leaders and activists see the primary. But […] Read more »

How a Divided Left Is Losing the Battle on Abortion

… The Democratic Party has rejected the message that drove its politics since President Bill Clinton’s administration — that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare” — and embraced abortion rights with few stipulations. Every leading Democratic presidential candidate has fallen in line. But unlike support for same-sex marriage, which […] Read more »

Why Progressive Candidates Should Invoke Conservative Values

To beat President Trump in the 2020 election, what sort of policies should a Democratic nominee promote? … An influential analysis of national polling data by Professors Ellis and Stimson suggests that the most effective candidate in a national election would combine the most popular feature of the Democratic Party, […] Read more »

Trump has turned the suburbs into a GOP disaster zone. Does that doom his reelection?

For decades, there was an unvaried rhythm to life in America’s suburbs: Carpool in the morning, watch sports on weekends, barbecue in the summer, vote Republican in November. Then came President Trump. The orderly subdivisions and kid-friendly communities that ring the nation’s cities have become a deathtrap for Republicans, as […] Read more »