The warning signs are flashing red: Democracy is under threat. Across Europe and North America, candidates are more authoritarian, party systems are more volatile, and citizens are more hostile to the norms and institutions of liberal democracy. These trends have prompted a major debate between those who view political discontent […] Read more »
The Rising Racial Liberalism of Democratic Voters
In response to both the election of Barack Obama in 2008 and the backlash in favor of Donald Trump in 2016, analysts and commentators have focused mostly on racial attitudes on the right. Both scholarship and journalistic accounts of American politics have drilled down on the increased opposition to immigration […] Read more »
Whites have fled the Democratic Party. Here’s how the nation got there.
… Whites have slowly but consistently moved away from the Democratic Party. These recent losses are on top of Democrats’ losses among Southern whites during the 1960s and 1970s after Democrats’ support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. … My new research […] Read more »
What Unites and Divides Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities
Large demographic shifts are reshaping America. The country is growing in numbers, it’s becoming more racially and ethnically diverse and the population is aging. But according to a new analysis by Pew Research Center, these trends are playing out differently across community types. Urban areas are at the leading edge […] Read more »
When and How New Policy Creates New Politics: Examining the Feedback Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Public Opinion
Following E. E. Schattschneider’s observation that “a new policy creates a new politics,” scholars of “policy feedback” have theorized that policies influence subsequent political behavior and public opinion. Recent studies observe, however, that policy feedback does not always occur and the form it takes varies considerably. To explain such variation, […] Read more »
Americans give Trump credit for good economy, mixed reviews on North Korea
Nearly two in three Americans think the nation’s economy is in good shape, and most of them believe President’s Trump’s policies are at least somewhat responsible for that. More Republicans rate the economy positively than do Democrats. … Americans give Mr. Trump mixed marks on his approach to negotiations and […] Read more »