In the Virginia race for governor, exit polls showed a big shift among White women voters, a group that made up more than a third of the state’s electorate. In 2020, they roughly split their votes for president, but this year, they backed the Republican candidate for governor by 14 […] Read more »
Local Democrats warn party: Growing Republican wave is real
The Democrats of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, felt the red wave building over the summer when frustrated parents filled school board meetings to complain about masking requirements and an academic theory on systemic racism that wasn’t even taught in local schools. They realized the wave was growing when such concerns, fueled […] Read more »
The Powerful G.O.P. Strategy Democrats Must Counter if They Want to Win
The Virginia election results should shock Democrats into confronting the powerful role that racially coded attacks play in American politics. No candidate would think of entering an election without a winning message on the economy or health care. Yet by failing to counter his opponent’s racial dog whistles, Terry McAuliffe […] Read more »
Exit polls from 2017 and 2021 show the key groups that helped Youngkin turn Virginia red
Virginia Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin notably improved the GOP’s standing with younger voters, moderates, independents and White women since the last gubernatorial election in 2017. Youngkin’s inroads among these swing voters, seen in an analysis of CNN’s exit polls from 2017 and 2021, made him the first Republican to win in […] Read more »
An abnormal Republican Party was treated normally by voters in New Jersey and Virginia
Tuesday’s election results in New Jersey and Virginia — a big swing away from the party that controls the White House — were fairly normal. And that’s the scary thing. The president’s party generally struggles in off-year elections for two reasons. First, there is often a turnout gap that favors […] Read more »
Progressive fantasies hit political reality in Virginia
Republican Glenn Youngkin’s come-from-behind victory in the governor’s race proved the maxim that Virginia is for moderates. Throughout the campaign, Democrat Terry McAuliffe squandered his reputation as a business-friendly, centrist former governor who worked constructively with a Republican legislature. Instead, he became a Trump-obsessed attack dog who nationalized the race […] Read more »