… 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 »
U.S. Public Opinion and the $3.5 Trillion Senate Budget Plan
Fast on the heels of the Senate passage of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, Senate Democrats have now advanced a $3.5 trillion “soft infrastructure” budget plan. This sprawling bill includes a laundry list of Democratic policy initiatives designed to create jobs, improve Americans’ working and living conditions, improve access to […] Read more »
Your rights and my nose
My father, of blessed memory, a stalwart civil libertarian who cut his teeth as a lawyer defending people accused of being communists by McCarthyite goons, used to say, “Your rights end where my nose begins.” The aphorism seems particularly apt at a time when one of the greatest collective threats […] Read more »
Public Opinion on War and Terror: Manipulated or Manipulating?
Leaders, elites, and the media may put ideas on the shelf, but that doesn’t mean people will buy them. And when they do, it may often be best to conclude that the message has struck a responsive chord rather than that the public has been manipulated. As people sort through […] Read more »
When politicians lead with their emotions
Politicians often get criticized for raising their finger in the wind, and following the polls to determine what position they should take on an issue. But increasingly, the most prominent elected officials are leading with their emotions, following the passions of their base before even getting a chance to examine […] Read more »
Why ‘moderation’ doesn’t guarantee electoral success for Biden and the Democrats
There is a general theory of how politics works in the United States right now that goes something like this: Democrats and Republicans advance policy agendas that are covered in a straightforward manner by the media and broadly digested by voters. Based on their views of these agendas, most voters […] Read more »