With the Covid-19 pandemic, the conventions will look vastly different from previous years. In this episode, Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang discuss the run-up to the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. They look at how a virtual convention might affect election coverage, voter enthusiasm, and rising political talent. Later in […] Read more »
Census, Cut Short A Month, Rushes To Finish All Counting Efforts By Sept. 30
The Census Bureau is ending all counting efforts for the 2020 census on Sept. 30, a month shorter than previously announced, the bureau’s director confirmed Monday in a statement. That includes critical door-knocking efforts and collecting responses online, over the phone and by mail. … Democrats in Congress and many […] Read more »
The Pandemic Is Damaging the GOP Brand Everywhere
Although hardly any of the governors grappling with the fiercest coronavirus outbreaks are on the ballot this fall, voters’ verdicts about their performance loom heavily over another electoral battle with enormous implications for the balance of power between the parties over the next decade: the struggle for control of state […] Read more »
Excluding Undocumented Immigrants from the 2020 U.S. House Apportionment
Key Points• President Trump recently indicated that he wants the 2020 census reapportionment of House seats to exclude undocumented immigrants from the calculation.• If undocumented immigrants are excluded, the 2020 reapportionment calculation will change, including changing the number of House seats allocated to the two largest states, California and Texas.• […] Read more »
Republicans Signal They’re Willing To Cut Census Counting Short
Republicans in Congress are signaling that the Census Bureau cannot take the extra time it has said it needs in order to count every person living in the U.S. amid the coronavirus pandemic — even if that risks leaving some residents out of the 2020 census. Rushing to deliver new […] Read more »
Ron Johnston: Human geographer who showed that voters are influenced not only by their beliefs, but by where they live and work
Ron Johnston, who has died aged 79, was a human geographer whose work in the field of electoral geography was drawn upon by political parties and policymakers, and influenced legislation on constituency boundaries. Also renowned as a historian of his subject, due to his magisterial account of Anglo-American human geography, […] Read more »