… I looked at 11 different ways in which Gallup has measured Americans’ views of the economy in recent months. These measures range from the very broad (economic conditions in the U.S.) to the very personal (your personal financial situation). The key finding: Republicans are more positive than Democrats in […] Read more »
Campaign 2020: Concerns about the Integrity of the Election
Many Americans have doubts about the integrity of the country’s voting systems. There is uncertainty about the accuracy of vote counts and concerns about both voter fraud and voter suppression. Americans worry about meddling by other countries and possible hacking of the election system. There is distrust in how party […] Read more »
To Beat Trump, Democrats May Need to Break Out of the ‘Whole Foods’ Bubble
It’s no secret that Democratic primary voters prize fall “electability.” But for all the clamor about progressive versus moderate choices, the obstacles to pulling voters toward Democrats — particularly in the battleground states — could prove more cultural than ideological. … In many ways, what people buy, eat and wear […] Read more »
The Sanders Tax: How our Electoral College ratings might change if he becomes the presumptive nominee
Key Points• If Democrats nominated Bernie Sanders, they would, initially, start off with somewhat of a penalty in our Electoral College ratings.• Sanders’ policy prescriptions and rhetoric may complicate Democratic prospects in the Sun Belt, where the party’s recent growth has been driven by highly-educated suburbanites.• Given the composition of […] Read more »
To fix the primaries, bring back peer review
In the four years after the 1968 Democratic convention, the nominating power in both parties shifted from elected officials and party leaders to primary voters. For many years the effect of this change was limited, as each party continued to nominate candidates who would have been plausible under the old […] Read more »
Can Democrats diminish the bigotry that Donald Trump has unleashed in this country?
Stung by the success of Trump’s anti-immigrant, racist campaign themes in 2016, left-of-center advocacy groups — think tanks, unions, progressive academics and Democratic consultants — are developing tools this year to counter the continuing Republican assault on liberal values, based on the optimistic assumption that the reservoir of white animosity […] Read more »