There seemed to be a pop-the-champagne mood among Democrats after the Obama administration’s announcement that 8 million Americans had signed up for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. … My impression at the time was that this sounded a bit too much like whistling past the graveyard. Now […] Read more »
High House hopes, low Obama numbers
So how do you run your campaign in 2014 if you’re a Democrat and your president’s job approval numbers are not so good? That’s the question host Ken Rudin put to Democratic pollster and strategist Anna Greenberg in the latest installment of the Political Junkie. Greenberg acknowledges the weak numbers, […] Read more »
Who’s Looking Out for the Little Person? Small Businesses Fly; Congress Flunks
Americans overwhelmingly say small businesses are on their side, followed by local news media and local government. But helpfulness scores turn middling to mildly negative for a range of other institutions in society – and sharply negative for one, the U.S. Congress. CONT. Gary Langer, ABC News Read more »
The Minimal Class Divide in American Politics
How deep is the class divide in American politics today? According to some scholars and pundits, it is very deep indeed. In a recent post on the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog, Larry Bartels of Vanderbilt University, the author of Unequal Democracy and a highly regarded public opinion scholar, presented […] Read more »
Are White Republicans More Racist Than White Democrats?
The comments made by Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling this month demonstrate that the U.S. is far from a colorblind society. And the reaction to their comments has drawn further attention to the fraught relationship between racism and partisan politics. When racist statements by high-profile figures are made public, some […] Read more »
Slight Improvements But Tough Terrain Ahead for Democrats
Support for President Barack Obama and his health care law has increased in the weeks since the White House announced that eight million Americans have enrolled in the law’s health-insurance exchanges, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. But in spite of slight improvements from March, the poll […] Read more »