Our expert survey results in May-June 2018 demonstrate significantly increased threat levels compared to April, with ratings worsening on all six dimensions of democratic performance. … The results give us clear reasons to be concerned about the future of American democracy. May and June saw increases in threat levels across […] Read more »
Where Did the Radical Right Come From?
BRING THE WAR HOME The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America By Kathleen Belew … Kathleen Belew’s gripping study of white power, “Bring the War Home,” was written before the city of Charlottesville became a hashtag, and is largely concerned with activities from the 1970s and ’80s. But it is […] Read more »
Trump Politicized Children. Democrats Should Empower Them.
For years, I’ve held onto a memo that a professional mentor gave me around 1990, a typewritten document by the pollster Stanley Greenberg with the title “Kids as Politics.” Mr. Greenberg, who has shown the sharpest understanding of traditionally Democratic voters drawn to the appeal of Ronald Reagan then or […] Read more »
Gauging the Level of Over Time Issue Polarization among Partisans
The question of the extent and nature of polarization in the American public has received much attention from political science. Though not always debated on this front, polarization on issue and policy opinion is a nuanced subject and sometimes suffers from limitations from survey data. For example, survey questions on […] Read more »
What Kennedy’s Retirement Means for the Midterms
What are the electoral implications of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s announcement that he will retire from the Supreme Court? With about a third fewer people voting in midterm than in presidential elections, who votes and who stays home this November is especially important. On April 10, this column noted the disparity […] Read more »
The Democratic Party Hits a Fork in the Road
… Almost halfway through Donald Trump’s tempestuous first term, Democrats are divided between two visions of how they can dislodge the Republican dominance of Washington and most state governments. One camp believes the party’s best chance will come from targeting mostly white, Republican-leaning voters who are recoiling from Trump on […] Read more »