American politics has been dominated by the Democratic and Republican Parties since the Civil War. That gives us the illusion of stability — that today’s political divisions cut roughly the same lines as yesteryear. But in recent decades, the two parties have been changing, and fast. Those changes are ideological […] Read more »
American voters worry they can’t spot misleading information, poll finds
Four years after Russia launched a cyber campaign to disrupt and influence the 2016 presidential campaign, about a third of Americans say misleading stories on social media pose the biggest threat to the safety of U.S. elections, and half think President Donald Trump encourages election interference, according to the latest […] Read more »
Five myths about rural America that muddle the political realities
In political, media and academic circles, the Trump era has sparked renewed interest in rural America — the supposedly “forgotten” areas of the country where white, non-college-educated voters gave the president the electoral edge he needed to prevail in 2016. The near-singular focus on Donald Trump has yielded a body […] Read more »
Gallup Decade in Review: 2010-2019
A review of Gallup analyses over the past decade reveals that the years from 2010 to 2019 bore witness to key revolutionary changes in public opinion, along with some persistent trends and concerns, as well as striking moments and lasting effects. Here are the changes, issues and moments in public […] Read more »
Searching for truth in an era of ‘alternative facts’: Disinformation in the age of Trump
In an era of politics and journalism that includes “fake news” and disinformation campaigns, it can be difficult to separate the truth from fiction. That was the topic of Sunday’s special edition of “Meet the Press,” entitled “Alternative Facts: Inside the Weaponization of Disinformation.” CONT. Ben Kamisar, NBC News Read more »
Big Money and America’s Lost Decade
… The first thing you need to know about the very rich is that they are, politically, different from you and me. Don’t be fooled by the handful of prominent liberal or liberal-ish billionaires; systematic studies of the politics of the ultrawealthy show that they are very conservative, obsessed with […] Read more »