The United States and Europe have seen a rise in outsider political movements, with more voters supporting populist authoritarian leaders who buck traditional cultural values than in the recent past. In this episode, Sam Wang interviews researcher and writer David R. K. Adler, who argues, contrary to contemporary belief, that […] Read more »
Inside Trump’s GOP: not what you think
Four months before the election, Democracy Corps started conducting deep qualitative and quantitative research with the base voters who identify with the Republican Party. The findings paint a picture very different from the one that assumes the GOP is Trump’s party. That realization reveals big opportunities for progressives in the […] Read more »
The Democratic Party Picked an Odd Time to Have an Identity Crisis
The Democratic Party is a traditional political organization dedicated to winning elections. It is also a social justice movement, the political home of societal change. … The tension between the center and the fervent anti-corporate, anti-Wall Street wing of the party — Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and now Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez […] Read more »
Erosion, polarization, and norm violations: Bright Line Watch Survey Report
Donald Trump is a disruptor. Few would disagree that his actions and style of political combat set him apart from past presidents. There is less consensus about the implications of Trump’s distinctive governing style for the health of American democracy, however. To understand how Americans rate their democracy in the […] Read more »
Preventing the suicide of American democracy
John Adams was not particularly optimistic about democracy. In an 1814 letter, he wrote: “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” A new study of American public attitudes suggests our democracy indeed may be heading […] Read more »
Voters are much more likely to support immigrant-family separation if they watch Fox News or read Breitbart
In late June, President Donald Trump officially suspended his administration’s policy of forcibly separating immigrant children from their families as they crossed the US-Mexico border. … Though the policy has received bipartisan blowback, almost one-third of voters — mainly Republicans and/or Trump voters — support it. Who exactly are these […] Read more »