These are strange, unsettling times. And for the past several months, I’ve been asking psychologists variations on a basic question: What research can best help us reckon with uncomfortable social and political realities — like the rise of Donald Trump, the widening partisan split, the divisiveness that comes with multiculturalism? […] Read more »
A wider partisan and ideological gap between younger, older generations
The generation gap in American politics is dividing two younger age groups, Millennials and Generation X, from the two older groups, Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation. In 2016, as in recent years, Millennials and Gen Xers were the most Democratic of age groups. And both groups had relatively large […] Read more »
Conservative Bias in Perceptions of Public Opinion Among American Political Elites
The conservative asymmetry of elite polarization and the right-skewed “democratic deficit”—wherein policy is more conservative than majorities prefer on average—represent significant puzzles. We argue that such breakdowns in aggregate representation can arise because politicians systematically misperceive constituency opinion. We demonstrate this argument in US states, where conservative citizens are more […] Read more »
Is Big Data Destroying the U.S. Political System?
Chuck Todd argues that the rise of big data has hollowed out the middle of political discourse in pursuit of an ever-shrinking slice of the electorate. Meet the Press, NBC News Read more »
G.O.P.’s Health Care Tightrope Winds Through the Blue-Collar Midwest
… It is a daunting paradox for a party that, at least in theory, was once unified around a belief that Washington should be tamed, not empowered. But by winning the White House under the banner of economic nationalism, and carrying a series of Democratic-leaning Rust Belt states, Mr. Trump […] Read more »
Can Trump Support the GOP Health-Care Plan and Still Hold On to His Voters?
… Ryan’s deference to Trump’s nationalism on trade and immigration, and Trump’s acceptance of Ryan’s libertarian approach to health care, has left the GOP with a policy mix crisscrossed by contradiction. In an interview, Neera Tanden, president of the liberal Center for American Progress, noted that the Trump-like European populist […] Read more »