President Donald Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett continues the GOP’s remarkable streak of selecting Catholic jurists for the Supreme Court and underscores the enduring impact of the alliance between conservative Catholics and evangelical Protestants, which has transformed the Republican coalition. If the Senate confirms Barrett to replace the late […] Read more »
How Trump’s base appeals have backfired
… Trump’s 2020 campaign and, indeed, his entire presidency has been about rallying the Republican base. Thanks to Trump’s messaging, the percentage of voters who see him as conservative has jumped during his presidency compared to where it was during the 2016 campaign. The problem for Trump is that in […] Read more »
Why Biden would likely have a Democratic Senate if he wins
The pending Senate battle over the next Supreme Court nominee shows us how important winning Congress’ upper chamber is this fall. A president who doesn’t have the Senate backing him cannot fully use the power of the presidency to influence the government’s direction. 2020 could be shaping up to be […] Read more »
Scenes from a Supreme Court Focus Group
How will the coming Supreme Court vote impact the presidential race? On Thursday, I convened a focus group of 2016 Trump voters—all college-educated women in swing states—to ask them what they thought. What I heard was bad news for Republicans. Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell seem to hope that nominating […] Read more »
Democrats Regain Favorability Edge Over GOP
Americans’ opinions of the Republican Party have soured since January but are similar to what they were a year ago. Meanwhile, Americans’ favorability ratings of the Democratic Party (47%) have been stable and again surpass those of the GOP (42%). CONT. Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup The OPINION TODAY email newsletter is a […] Read more »
COVID-19 has narrowed the divide between GOP, Democratic voters on ways to support workers from pay to child care
The coronavirus pandemic has narrowed a long-standing divide between most Republicans and Democrats on a wide range of proposals to support the U.S. economy, from raising the minimum wage to making child care more affordable, challenging the conventional belief that Americans are divided heading into the 2020 election. A Public […] Read more »