Americans’ views about the economy, their overall quality of life and the opportunity to get ahead through hard work are more positive than they were before the 2014 State of the Union Address — echoing their improving economic confidence. At the same time, Americans are markedly less satisfied with the […] Read more »
‘Wealthy plutocrat’ isn’t Mitt Romney’s issue. It’s the Republican Party’s issue.
… If Republicans pursue an anti-inequality or anti-poverty agenda, the issue is less that any individual Republican messenger is wealthy. It is more that the Republican Party is fighting an image that is decades old and not easy to change. CONT. John Sides, The Monkey Cage Read more »
The Rise of ‘Welfare Chauvinism’
… In the United States, the besieged two-party system has remained intact, protected by a 200-year-old tradition and an electoral system that cuts short any bid to create a viable third party. There are two major costs to this stability: recurrent gridlock, which constricts legislative action, and a failure to […] Read more »
Many Feel the American Dream Is Out of Reach
Despite an improving economy and jobs picture, the public is more pessimistic than it was after the 2008 financial crisis that it is possible to work hard and become rich, according to a New York Times poll. … Notwithstanding the bleaker view of upward mobility, a majority of those polled […] Read more »
Have Democrats Failed the White Working Class?
Why don’t white working-class voters recognize where their economic interests lie? Somewhat self-righteously, Democrats keep asking themselves that question. A better question would be: What has the Democratic Party done for these voters lately? CONT. Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times Read more »
Is Obamacare Destroying the Democratic Party?
Charles Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, has forced a debate over fundamental party priorities out into the open. Should Democrats focus primarily on the problems of the poor or should they first address the economic struggles of the working and middle classes? It’s not often that a politician […] Read more »