In the lead-up to the 2018 midterms, several prominent media accounts reported on the connection between evangelicals and the Republican Party. Given the important role that evangelicals play in the Republican base — they make up about 20 percent of the US population and consistently have given 70 to 80 […] Read more »
Democrats Have Two Paths for 2020: Daring or Defensive. Can They Settle on Either?
For Democrats, the victories, near wins and stinging losses on Tuesday have intensified a debate in the party about how to retake the White House, with moderates arguing they must find a candidate who can appeal to President Trump’s supporters and historically Republican suburbanites, and progressives claiming they need someone […] Read more »
GOP Didn’t Have a Turnout Problem, It Had a Focus Problem
Did the 2018 midterm electorate break new political ground as the media had predicted for months or was it déjà vu all over again? The answer is both. In my last column before the election, I suggested that four key measurements would tell the story of this year’s midterms: party […] Read more »
Five Takeaways From Democrats’ House Triumph
… With 75 competitive races, it will take more time than usual to take stock of Tuesday’s powerful, if uneven, wave. But here are a few initial impressions in the aftermath of a whirlwind night: 1. This was mostly a suburban revolt. Democrats easily swept out most of the Republicans […] Read more »
The two Americas are on a collision course today
Two Americas could render diametrically opposed verdicts on President Donald Trump’s tumultuous first two years in today’s election. From one direction, Trump faces intense antipathy among young people and minority voters and unusually broad resistance among college-educated white voters, especially women. That threatens Republicans with widespread losses in well-educated, often […] Read more »
Blame Fox, not Facebook, for fake news
Yochai Benkler, Rob Faris and Hal Robert, three scholars affiliated with Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, have a new book, “Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics,” presenting major new research about the political consequences of American media. I asked Benkler, who is the Berkman professor of Entrepreneurial Legal […] Read more »