Americans sharply divided along partisan lines over travel ban, Trump

Two weeks into Donald Trump’s presidency, the country remains sharply divided along partisan lines. A large majority of Republicans approves of President Trump and his recent executive order temporarily restricting entry into the U.S. by foreigners and refugees, while Democrats disapprove in similar numbers. … Mr. Trump’s first approval rating […] Read more »

On Trump’s immigration moves, a deep divide along educational lines

… Solid majorities of Americans disapprove of all of the major moves on immigration that President Trump has made since taking office …. However, it turns out there’s a deep divide along educational lines on all of these proposals. I asked the good folks at Gallup for a further breakdown […] Read more »

Are Republicans Taking a Gamble Supporting Trump on Immigration?

It’s quickly become a familiar arc in the volatile Donald Trump presidency. First, Trump issues a policy declaration that triggers massive protests in major cities. Then reporters descend on smaller places where they find Trump supporters who say they don’t understand what all the fuss is about. … Immigration remains […] Read more »

The Peculiar Populism of Donald Trump

All wars have unintended consequences, including culture wars. … In an article to be published in the June issue of Perspectives on Politics, “Trump and the Xenophobic Populist Parties: The Silent Revolution in Reverse,” Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris put their case in blunt terms: “Postmaterialism,” they write, “eventually became […] Read more »

Americans and the Unassimilables

… Politicians and Fourth-of-July orators love to invoke Emma Lazarus’s lines on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your poor, your tired / Your huddled masses, the wretched refuse …. “and to say, as President Trump did a few days ago, that “America is a proud nation of immigrants.” Alas, the […] Read more »