… The assumption going into the 2012 campaign was that there was little to be gained politically from the president’s coming down firmly in favor of same-sex marriage. In particular, his political advisers were worried that his endorsement could splinter the coalition needed to win a second term, depressing turnout […] Read more »
Why Does Abortion Endure as a Political Tripwire?
Why is there such a difference in the durability of two foundational issues of American conservatism: gay marriage and abortion? Same-sex marriage burst onto the political scene in the early 1990s, lasted through the mid-2000s, and is now quietly fading. Abortion, as a political call to arms, has been around […] Read more »
Democrats target unmarried female voters
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is building a national computer model to predict voters’ marital status, with hopes of targeting what may be the party’s most important demographic group: unmarried women. “The completed model will let us pinpoint unmarried women as the target of specific, poll-tested messages delivered through field, […] Read more »
America’s evangelicals return to seeking souls, not votes
Only a decade ago, Christian social conservatives were a commanding force in American politics. They helped elect one of their own, George W. Bush, to two terms. They were a cornerstone of a GOP coalition that appeared to hold a permanent electoral majority. But today, the movement has lost its […] Read more »
Which Radical Ideas Come True?
… Two radical notions in the early 1970s, having a black president and permitting homosexual marriage, have pretty much come to pass – in terms of public opinion and public policy. But the idea that the government should be partly responsible for all Americans’ health care, not just care for […] Read more »
GOP’s Very Slow Shift on Gay Marriage
In the space of a decade, same-sex marriage has gone from being an issue Americans overwhelming oppose to one a majority increasingly supports, according to a long list of polls. … While the public, on the whole, seems to be casting off in the direction of legalizing same-sex marriage, Republicans […] Read more »