Voters in primary elections generally have two major goals: advancing their policy preferences and winning the general election. This can lead to a dilemma when these goals are in conflict. For many voters in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses, that dilemma is very real. That is because of […] Read more »
Are Democratic Voters Truly Divided by Ideology?
The four Democratic candidates at the top of the polls heading into the Iowa caucuses have been paired by pundits into what they like to call lanes. It’s a highway analogy, as in “stay in your lane.” One, seen as more progressive and liberal, contains Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. […] Read more »
The deep electoral roots of the Senate’s impeachment standoff
The virtually lockstep Republican defense of President Donald Trump so far during his impeachment trial marks a new milestone in the Senate’s long-term evolution into a more partisan and regimented institution that demands unwavering party loyalty and punishes the freewheeling independence that characterized the great legislators through the body’s history. […] Read more »
The Media Expectations Game Usually Hurts Nomination Front-Runners, But Not in 2020
The history of presidential nomination politics suggests that it’s a mixed blessing for a candidate to be considered a front-runner by the national media heading into the primary and caucus season. Of course, it’s better to be doing well in polls and fundraising, the usual metrics of pre-primary success, than […] Read more »
Why Trump Persists
The failure of the American electorate to rise up in opposition to President Trump — whose outrages are well-documented — suggests that voters are less tolerant, less empathetic and less insistent on integrity than many believe. The election of Trump and his first three years in office have revealed a […] Read more »
What Do Swing Voters Think? Meet @American_Voter
… Political science research has long established that the American public’s beliefs are a mixed bag. But those findings have failed to manifest in public discourse, which is increasingly held online. CONT. Alexander Agadjanian (MIT) & G. Elliott Morris (The Economist), New York Times I'm a 64 year old, college-educated, […] Read more »