In their article “Does Party Trump Ideology? Disentangling Party and Ideology in America” recently published in the journal American Political Science Review, Michael Barber and Jeremy Pope present a very compelling, important, and timely study. Investigating the extent of party loyalty and the “follow-the-leader” dynamic among the American public, the […] Read more »
Many Conservatives Only Trust Government When Their Party Is in Power
… A recent study finds American liberals are more willing to grant legitimacy to a conservative-led government than vice-versa. Further, it finds this is not exclusively a Donald Trump-era phenomenon, and has been the case for the past 40-plus years. “These findings are in contradiction to the notion that liberals […] Read more »
Trump’s emergency declaration doesn’t show his power. It shows his weakness.
From the moment he announced his campaign for the presidency, Donald Trump has provoked concerns of an authoritarian turn in American politics. His declaration Friday of a national emergency so he can order construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border would seem to confirm the suspicions of his most […] Read more »
Siena Presidential Expert Poll: Washington top president, FDR second; Trump enters survey at 42nd
For the sixth time since its inception in 1982, the Siena College Research Institute’s (SCRI) Survey of U.S. Presidents finds that experts rank Franklin D. Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, Abe Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington as the United States’ top five chief executives. The 157 participating presidential scholars for the […] Read more »
3 Reasons That State Of The Union Speeches Don’t Matter
It took a while, but President Trump’s second State of the Union address is finally here. … 1. The speeches don’t affect approval ratings muchState of the Union addresses are generally meant as laundry lists of legislation for Congress to pursue — not soaring examples of oratory like presidential acceptance […] Read more »
The ‘Rotten Equilibrium’ of Republican Politics
One clear lesson from the elections of 2016 and 2018 is that President Trump and his fellow Republican candidates win where white voters are losing ground. Take a look at the 2018 congressional results in the upper Midwest and Pennsylvania, states that provided the Electorate College votes crucial to Trump’s […] Read more »