The current moment in the Republican Party is summed up well by a quote from Teresa Cosby, a Furman University political science professor, on former governor (and current GOP presidential candidate) Nikki Haley’s role in removing the Confederate flag from South Carolina Capitol grounds: “It’s just going to score her […] Read more »
Democrats have been doing well in special elections in 2023
Democrat Jennifer McClellan easily won the special election for Virginia’s 4th Congressional District last week. The fact that a Democrat comfortably retained a Democratic seat in a district President Joe Biden would have won under its new lines by 36 points in 2020 is not surprising. What is notable is […] Read more »
The Forces Tearing Us Apart Are Not Quite What They Seem
A toxic combination of racial resentment and the sharp regional disparity in economic growth between urban and rural America is driving the class upheaval in American partisanship, with the Republican Party dominant in working-class House districts and the Democratic Party winning a decisive majority of upscale House seats. Studies from […] Read more »
Our system doesn’t act even when we agree. That’s killing us.
When friends of the United States abroad enumerate aspects of our politics they simply can’t understand, I’ve found they often point to the inability of our democracy to deal comprehensively with the mass slaughter our permissive gun laws enable. Every new outrage — including the recent incidents in Arkabutla, Miss., […] Read more »
The Contradictions of Ron DeSantis
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida hasn’t officially decided whether he’ll seek the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. But already the contradictions are sharpening between his prospective general-election strengths and his emerging strategy to win the Republican primaries. Many of DeSantis’s boosters are drawn to him as a potential Republican nominee because […] Read more »
Both White and Nonwhite Democrats are Moving Left
Key Points• One of the big stories of American politics over the past half-century has been a growing ideological divide between Democrats and Republicans.• This has also led to more ideological cohesion within parties, including a dramatic increase among Democrats between 2012 and 2020. Democrats are now as ideologically cohesive […] Read more »