COVID masked America’s underlying cultural foment. A global pandemic draws focus, for sure. But as we reemerge from hiding, so do our cultural discontents. Now, rather than debate about whether the pandemic is real or not – as we did for the past year – we’re moving on to other […] Read more »
Americans’ Confidence in Major U.S. Institutions Dips
Americans’ average confidence in major U.S. institutions has edged down after increasing modestly several months into the coronavirus pandemic last year. Currently, an average 33% of U.S. adults express “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in 14 institutions, marking a three-percentage-point dip since 2020 and a return […] Read more »
Did Trump damage American democracy?
Did Trump permanently damage American democracy? This question has spawned a veritable cottage industry of hand wringing over the state of American democracy—understandably so. Never before have we had a president who schemed to overturn legitimate election results, who attacked the press and the civil servants who worked for him, […] Read more »
Whether Republicans Get Vaccinated Has A Lot To Do With If They Watch Fox News … Or OANN
… Fox News is still king among Republicans. But the growing popularity of OANN and Newsmax is important: According to our research, Republicans’ stances on certain issues might be better predicted by their television news habits than by whether they identify as conservative, moderate or liberal. We found in our […] Read more »
America’s partisan fireworks will be hard for anyone to put out
While July Fourth is the holiday that most directly celebrates Americans’ common heritage, this year it comes as their extreme divides underscore how difficult it has become for any president to set a unified direction for the country. … Taken together, these centrifugal pressures call into question not only the […] Read more »
Thomas Edsall on the new ‘anti-democratic party,’ and the challenges for the media
New York Times contributing op-ed writer Thomas Edsall warns about Republicans attempting to enforce “white political dominance;” anti-democratic trends in American politics; and the blind spots he sees in media coverage. “Trump and the Republican Party have created a real dilemma for the media,” he tells Brian Stelter. “When you […] Read more »