… When women and people of color run for office, they tend to win at the same rates as white men. Nevertheless, my research shows that Americans see white men as more electable than equally qualified women and people of color. … Most Americans are not sexist or racist — […] Read more »
What’s Missing from the “Ideology vs. Electability” Debate
We’re still in the early stages of the 2020 presidential campaign, but a common media frame has emerged already: will Democrats prioritize pragmatic electability when selecting a challenger to President Trump, or will the party instead prize ideological purity? Again and again, news coverage of the Democratic nomination contest has […] Read more »
Integration vs. White Intransigence
The revival of the argument over school busing illuminates a continuing predicament for Democrats and proponents of racial equality. Integration works, but how do we get it to fly in the face of white intransigence? CONT. Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times Read more »
Does public support for democracy defend a country from autocrats? Not necessarily.
… Since the time of Plato, political thinkers have argued that a pro-democratic public is necessary for a stable and vital democracy. But others have countered that these opinions are just cheap talk that have little impact on political outcomes. In new research, forthcoming in the American Journal of Political […] Read more »
It May Not Seem That Way, but Politicians Often Do What Voters Want
Do politicians care what voters want? New evidence may suggest they don’t — and many voters are skeptical, too. A 2018 survey by the Pew Research Center reports that less than half the country says elected officials care what ordinary people think. In reality, policy outcomes at the state, congressional […] Read more »
There Are Many Democratic Candidates. Party Insiders View a Bunch as the Same.
… Since last December, I’ve been conducting interviews with Democratic activists in the early primary and caucus states of New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina, and Nevada, as well as the District of Columbia. Roughly three dozen people regularly participate in this survey, including campaign workers, party officials, and longstanding volunteers […] Read more »