As Ohio became reliably red, the Republican Party was changing

Once upon a time, Ohio was a swing state. While it was slightly more Republican than the country as a whole, the Buckeye State voted with the winning presidential nominee fourteen consecutive elections, from 1964 to 2016. But that now seems like ancient history. … What is strange is how […] Read more »

Russia’s objective in the U.S. has already largely been achieved

Russia’s desired outcome in the months before Donald Trump’s election in 2016 was not simply to see him elected. It aimed, instead, to more broadly “undermine the US-led liberal democratic order” (in the words of a January 2017 intelligence assessment), an effort that Russia believed would be aided far more […] Read more »

A Test for Biden, a Test for Democracy

Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine confronts President Joe Biden with complex challenges at a time when he is already beleaguered—but it also presents him with an opportunity for a reset on the core foreign-policy promise he made to voters during his 2020 campaign. As a candidate, Biden offered voters not […] Read more »

Biden’s Promise to Nominate a Black Woman to the Supreme Court

During the 2020 presidential campaign, President Biden promised to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court. Justice Stephen Breyer announced his intention to retire last month, providing Biden with the opportunity to make good on his pledge. Overall, nearly half of the public do not consider the first Black […] Read more »

Redistricting and Competition in Congressional Elections

Key Points• Based on presidential voting patterns, a much larger proportion of U.S. House districts strongly favor one party and a much smaller proportion are closely divided than 50 years ago.• However, gerrymandering is not the major reason for this trend. Partisan polarization has increased dramatically in U.S. states and […] Read more »