After the bruising 2016 campaign, Americans are broadly optimistic that Donald Trump’s election will invigorate the economy but fearful that it will further divide the nation along lines of class, race and party. While a solid three-fifths of American adults indicated that as a result of the election they expect […] Read more »
America Is Safer Than It Used to Be. So Why Do We Still Have Calls for ‘Law and Order’?
By its own historical standards, America circa 2016 is a safe place. The country’s violent crime rate is about half of what it was in 1991. Cities, in particular, have become markedly less dangerous. Less than half as many police officers are killed in the line of duty today as […] Read more »
How do Americans view poverty?
Sharp differences along lines of race and politics shape American attitudes toward the poor and poverty, according to a new survey of public opinion, which finds empathy toward the poor and deep skepticism about government antipoverty efforts. The differences illuminate some of the passions that have driven this year’s contentious […] Read more »
How Falling Behind the Joneses Fueled the Rise of Trump
… Trump’s white working class supporters — who provide somewhere between 58 and 62 percent of his votes, according to data from NBC and ABC polls — have suffered a stunning loss of relative status over the past 40 years. Their wages have stagnated or declined; the ascendance of minorities […] Read more »
No, it’s not new that some working-class and poor whites vote Republican
… There have been changes over the years, and in the past few elections, the gap between the Republican vote share among rich and poor whites has narrowed. So it’s reasonable to ask what has changed. But don’t kid yourself. The Republican Party has had conservative economic policies for more […] Read more »
Harvard IOP poll of 18- to 29-year-olds: Clinton a clear front-runner over Trump
A new national poll of America’s 18- to 29-year-olds by Harvard’s Institute of Politics (IOP), located at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, finds Hillary Clinton the clear front-runner over Donald Trump to win the White House in 2016. Among likely voters, Clinton has 61% of young voters and […] Read more »