Americans have experienced one of the most turbulent postelection periods in recent memory. The 2020 presidential election was marked by record turnout amid new voting procedures in many parts of the country, a response to the coronavirus outbreak. In all, more than 155 million voters cast a ballot in the […] Read more »
How Long Can Democracy Survive QAnon and Its Allies?
Has a bloc of voters emerged that is not only alien to the American system of governance but toxic to it? “The central weakness of our political system now is the Republican Party,” Daniel Ziblatt, a political scientist at Harvard, said in an interview with Vox on Jan. 13, a […] Read more »
Why Republicans haven’t abandoned Trumpism
… Under Trump, the GOP lost the House, the Senate and the White House. So unless Republicans don’t understand the true distribution of public opinion, which is always possible, any rational vote-seeking party should recognize the risks of the Trump brand and move the party back toward the conservative center-right. […] Read more »
Many Value Democratic Principles, but Few Think Democracy Is Working Well These Days
Few Americans believe democracy is functioning well in the United States these days, even as a large majority agree that core democratic principles like a fair judiciary and a democratically elected government are important to the country’s identity. Seventy percent think President Biden has at least a fair amount of […] Read more »
Politics & Polls: How the Religious Right May Have Provoked the Insurrection
At the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, religious messaging echoed through the streets as Christian-right activists protested the 2020 presidential election. What role did the religious right play in the uprising at the Capitol? And will they continue to be emboldened despite President Donald Trump’s departure? Katherine Stewart […] Read more »
Why Joe Manchin is an electoral miracle
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is one of the most powerful men in Washington. With Democrats holding a one-vote majority in the Senate (thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris casting any tie-breaking vote), he can make or break a lot of bills for them. Manchin’s moderate record, however, […] Read more »