On the Fourth of July, Americans celebrate the birth of the nation and the values that have sustained the country and its democracy in the nearly 250 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Americans’ views vary when it comes to how they see the United States’ standing […] Read more »
One-third of the world’s population lives in a declining democracy. That includes the United States.
Many scholars have argued that democracy — particularly in the United States — is under threat. Examples include Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt’s analysis of democratic backsliding and Yascha Mounk’s stringent critique of whether American democracy truly represents its citizens. Our newly released 2018 Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project report […] Read more »
Americans are not as divided or conservative on immigration as you might think
Deborah Schildkraut, Tufts University Lawmakers in Washington, from the president down to first-term members of Congress, may be misjudging how the public feels about immigration. President Donald Trump appears to believe the country needs and wants hard-line policies. Members of Congress haven’t stopped him from carrying out those policies. Do […] Read more »
NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll: Most want vote on Trump Supreme Court nominee before midterms
A majority of Americans believe the Republican-led Senate should vote on President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee before the November midterm elections, undercutting the Democratic argument that it should be delayed until after the pivotal fall elections, according to a new NBC News|SurveyMonkey poll. CONT. Dartunorro Clark, NBC News Read more »
Justice delayed: The Supreme Court is often behind the country
With Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement from the Supreme Court, the America of 1950 is now positioned to write the legal rules for the America of 2050. That may slightly overstate the likely longevity of the five-member conservative Supreme Court majority that will lock into place if and when the Senate […] Read more »
Racism and authoritarianism go hand in hand
Two features of American politics are omnipresent in the current media landscape. First, Donald Trump’s rhetoric regarding nonwhites routinely betrays a dehumanizing prejudice. Second, there has been a proliferation of what Duke University law professor Jedediah Purdy sardonically labels “crisis-of-democracy literature,” involving Americans’ apparent rebuke of democratic norms. Neither social […] Read more »