… With the biggest single day of the primaries behind us, pundits, politicos, and voters have begun to make sense of why exactly Joe Biden won big. According to Rachel Bitecofer of the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University, the answer is that a critical mass of […] Read more »
The Carolina Comeback in Light of 2016
If you notice the party scholars in your life walking with a bit of a spring in their step lately — including the authors of The Party Decides, who had kind of a rough 2016 — there’s good reason for this. … The Democratic Party just pulled off something in […] Read more »
Democrats might have the stronger party. They also have a harder job.
The results of this year’s Super Tuesday have resurrected the idea that “the party decides” as well as the candidacy of Joe Biden. What we observed over the last week or so does fit the theory: Rep. Jim Clyburn endorsed Biden, leading him to victory in South Carolina. A few […] Read more »
Why The Establishment Can’t Bank On ‘Moderate’ Voters Consolidating Against Sanders
At this point in the Democratic primary, none of the moderate alternatives to Sen. Bernie Sanders has risen above the rest. Sanders has emerged from the first three voting contests as the race’s progressive front-runner, and voters who think Sanders is too liberal are still left with several choices. It […] Read more »
Americans are drowning in a sea of polls
42% of media coverage of the 2016 election focused on the horserace. Photobank Gallery/Shutterstock.com Michael Traugott, University of Michigan Polls have become an essential part of the news, particularly in the run-up to an election. Reports on polls feed into what’s often called “horserace coverage” – who is ahead or […] Read more »
Biden lost his ‘electable’ claim. That’s why black votes are up for grabs again.
… The lesson to take from what we know about why black voting is steadfastly Democratic in general elections, and to apply to the primaries, is that candidates seeking to consolidate bloc-like support from black voters have a twofold job. First, without party identification as a shortcut for political decision-making, […] Read more »