In my book, The Great Alignment: Race, Party Transformation and the Rise of Donald Trump, I argue that the United States has entered a new era of electoral competition in the 21st century. The most important characteristics of 21st century elections are partisan polarization and nationalized elections, and the results […] Read more »
Why Latino Voters Haven’t Completely Abandoned The GOP
A sizable bloc of Latino voters have remained aligned with Republicans in the Donald Trump era. This seems surprising, considering that he described Mexicans who sought to come to the United States as drug users and rapists during his 2016 campaign, his administration has adopted anti-immigration policies, and Democrats are […] Read more »
Democratic activists haven’t decided on a 2020 candidate
A survey of Democratic activists in early primary states and Washington, DC, finds the vast majority of them still undecided about a 2020 presidential nominee. However, they’re considering candidates from a fairly narrow group, despite the very large number of potential candidates. CONT. Seth Masket (U. of Denver), Mischiefs of […] Read more »
How Republicans Misplayed Their Primaries
… One of my favorite sayings is from my friend, the very wise columnist Mark Shields, who is fond of saying that he would rather be a member of a church seeking converts than one trying to drive out heretics. This is not at all to argue that incumbents should […] Read more »
Americans are scattered and divided over which source they most trust for news
Far more Americans get their news from local and network TV than from cable TV, but when asked what political news source they trust most, more name cable channels CNN or Fox News than almost any other source. A Washington Post Fact Checker poll used an open-ended format to ask […] Read more »
A new theory for why Republicans and Democrats see the world differently
“Of the many factors that make up your worldview, one is more fundamental than any other in determining which side of the divide you gravitate toward: your perception of how dangerous the world is. Fear is perhaps our most primal instinct, after all, so it’s only logical that people’s level […] Read more »