… The question that persists six months after Mr. Trump’s inauguration is why six key states — Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, along with 220 counties nationwide — flipped from Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016. Why did these voters change their minds? These are men and […] Read more »
Views on Power and Influence in Washington
Most Americans say they have too little power in Washington these days, according to a new survey by The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Three in 4 Americans say they have too little influence in Washington and 76 percent say poor people have too little influence. Majorities say that […] Read more »
How accelerating change is deepening our political divisions
This column takes its name from its intention: it aims to explore the fault lines in American society and politics. It is not designed to illuminate politics from the inside out, with tales of backroom maneuvering. Instead its goal is to track American politics from the outside in. It aspires […] Read more »
Trump Can’t Reverse the Decline of White Christian America
Down the home stretch of the 2016 presidential campaign, one of Donald Trump’s most consistent talking points was a claim that America’s changing demographics and culture had brought the country to a precipice. He repeatedly cast himself as the last chance for Republicans and conservative white Christians to step back […] Read more »
Aversion to difference
Last week, I examined two of the three strands of conservative thinking — aversion to government and aversion to change — which Donald Trump melded together in his successful effort to capture the White House. Here I’ll focus on the third — aversion to difference — which mostly lay dormant […] Read more »
Trump’s core voters could suffer most under GOP health bill, but they may not punish him for it
The Senate health-care bill has sharpened the central political question surrounding the 2017 Republican agenda: Will the voters who made Donald Trump president rebel? Like the House health-care bill, the Senate version would roll back Obamacare’s expansion of insurance coverage under Medicaid. While cutting Obamacare’s taxes on the rich, it […] Read more »