The late U.S. Sen. John McCain was one of the best-known and best-liked U.S. politicians of this political era. Gallup tracked Americans’ views of McCain periodically beginning in 1999. McCain’s favorable rating stood above 50% most of the time but started below it in 1999, when he was not a […] Read more »
John McCain Was A Maverick — And A Politician
John McCain, the senator from Arizona, passed away from brain cancer on Saturday at the age of 81. He weathered the sharp attacks from opponents and voters that all politicians do, but his burnish of authenticity, increasingly rare in public figures, spoke to our American ideal of independence, and his […] Read more »
John McCain viewed more favorably by Arizona Democrats than by Republicans
In the latest CBS News Battleground Tracker poll, Arizona voters weighed in on their state’s U.S. senators, and each got more negative than positive views. Partisanship shapes opinion, but not in the way we typically see in politics today. GOP Sen. John McCain gets his highest favorable rating from Arizona […] Read more »
Politics as (Un)usual
In Marine Corps jargon, a “duty station” is the military base or camp where a Marine is assigned to live. Reflecting our national inclination both to romanticize what is past and to criticize what is current, Marines will regularly gripe that there is no duty station better than the one […] Read more »
Surprised by the anger toward McCain? Party loyalists can hate apostates as much as opponents.
Last Thursday, White House aide Kelly Sadler started a political firestorm when she reportedly joked about Sen. John McCain’s impending death in a staff meeting. The White House declined to apologize. … Partisanship encourages intense animosity against partisan opponents, as a great deal of research shows. But partisan conflict can […] Read more »
Trump’s Takeover: Inside President Trump’s high-stakes battle for control of the GOP
FRONTLINE goes inside President Trump’s high-stakes battle for control of the GOP, examining how he attacked fellow Republicans and used inflammatory rhetoric that rallied his base and further divided the country in his first year as president. CONT. Frontline “Trump’s Takeover” is a window into the potential lasting impact of […] Read more »