Eastern Iowa is home to industrial riverfront cities, small towns surrounded by verdant farmland and a consequential number of voters who were inspired to vote for both Barack Obama and Donald Trump. And unlike many of the president’s Republican supporters, who could never imagine voting for a Democrat, many of […] Read more »
Trump Character Ratings Improved, but Still a Weakness
More Americans today (40%) than two years ago (33%) believe President Donald Trump has the personality and leadership qualities a president should have, although that still represents a minority of the public. In contrast, roughly six in 10 Americans thought George W. Bush and Barack Obama had the right presidential […] Read more »
If 2020 comes down to turnout, a white male Democratic nominee might be a problem for his party
For Democrats, it is unquestionably the case that having a white man on the ballot next November will spur turnout and energy among even infrequent voters. That white man is President Trump, whose unpopularity with members of the opposing party led to midterm turnout that we hadn’t seen in a […] Read more »
Nos. 44 and 45 broke the mold. What does that mean for the future of the presidency?
For more than two centuries, until the election of 2008, American presidents all looked alike. They were white and male and every one of them came to office with experience in the government, military or both. Barack Obama, the first African American president, broke one mold. Donald Trump, who had […] Read more »
The Democratic Race: Taking a hard look at electability
As the field of Democratic candidates has grown, the list of theories about how to beat Trump has grown even larger. Some people seem to want a candidate who can be as rude and mean to Trump as Trump is to just about everyone but Ivanka. Others think it’s time […] Read more »
The Democrats Are Still the Party of Obama, Part 2 (Joe Biden Edition)
After the 2018 midterm elections, much of the national media suffered from a collective misunderstanding of the Democratic Party. Multiple news stories described a party that was moving sharply to the left under the newfound leadership of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow Democratic Socialists. But Ocasio-Cortez wasn’t very representative of […] Read more »