… We tend to associate wars with “rally-around-the-flag” effects, in which conflicts lead to popularity bumps for presidents and their parties. Such effects may have been true during WWII, but 21st century military interventions are long, drawn out affairs — and political losers. This is due to what I’ve identified […] Read more »
RIP, rally ’round the flag
Less than 12 hours after Flight 75 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, close to 150 members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, stood together on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to sing “God Bless America.” Unfortunately, that act of bipartisanship won’t […] Read more »
How Donald Trump Turned Off Swing Voters in 2020
Key Points• The number of swing voters — those who change their minds between presidential elections — has been declining over time.• However, there are still some swing voters, and they can be decisive in the nation’s highly competitive presidential elections.• Swing voters helped Joe Biden win the White House, […] Read more »
A More Secular America Is Not Just a Problem for Republicans
… Today, scholars are finding that by almost any metric they use to measure religiosity, younger generations are much more secular than their parents or grandparents. In responses to survey questions, over 40 percent of the youngest Americans claim no religious affiliation, and just a quarter say they attend religious […] Read more »
Will Afghanistan Take Biden Down? Not Likely.
President Joe Biden’s critics seem to smell blood in the water over the catastrophic situation in Afghanistan. Donald Trump wants Biden to resign over the issue; Florida Sen. Rick Scott has suggested Biden’s removal via the 25th amendment. It’s not just Republicans: a fair number of prominent Democrats are worried […] Read more »
How Partisanship Affects Pandemic Thinking
… While nearly 60 percent of Americans overall said in a recent Quinnipiac poll that they were concerned about the Delta variant, more than 60 percent of Republicans said they weren’t. And research indicates that many people are looking at Covid policies they don’t like and blaming whichever party they’re […] Read more »