Why is it so hard for the United States to regulate guns? Doing so is very popular. Nationally, and in most states, majorities favor a wide range of additional restrictions. In every state, majorities favor at least some additional restrictions and regulations on ownership and use. Theories abound about why […] Read more »
Avoiding the Echo Chamber about Echo Chambers: Why selective exposure to like-minded political news is less prevalent than you think
With critics decrying the “echo chambers,” “filter bubbles,” and “information cocoons” created by the rise of online news and social media, you’d think that the entire American public was consuming a near-exclusive diet of politically pleasing news. … However, these claims are vastly overstated. A deep dive into the academic […] Read more »
A House forecast holds good news for Democrats
We’re far enough into the 2018 midterm election cycle that we have some sense of what the fundamentals of the political environment that will govern it look like. A pretty simple forecast model that relies on economic performance and presidential popularity predicts Democrats will pick up 45 to 50 House […] Read more »
American democracy sold to the highest bidder
Aristotle measured the quality of democracy by the extent to which politics constrains the economically powerful, allowing the preferences of the landless to be reflected in public policy. According to a new analysis, American democracy gets a failing grade on Aristotle’s test while the countries of northern Europe are star […] Read more »
Trump’s Tool Kit Does Not Include the Constitution
Since before President Trump was elected — and with greater frequency afterward — historians, political scientists and journalists have wondered how autocratic our democracy might become. Here is some evidence of how the public sees it. Bright Line Watch, a consortium of political scientists formed after the 2016 election, just […] Read more »
American Democracy After Trump’s First Year
In January 2018, as Donald Trump completed his first year as president, Bright Line Watch conducted its fourth expert survey on the state of U.S. democracy. At the same time, we conducted an identical public survey – our second – with a nationally representative sample of Americans. This approach allows […] Read more »