This week’s competitive primaries in Arizona and Florida suggest the midterm elections could provide revealing signals on one of the most important questions facing the two parties over the next decade: Can Democrats overturn the Republican advantage in the rapidly growing Sun Belt? CONT. Ronald Brownstein, The Atlantic Read more »
Dark Days Ahead for Trump and the GOP
This week’s developments—the guilty verdict of Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign head found guilty on tax and bank-fraud charges, and the guilty plea by Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, for campaign-finance-law violations which he says were directed by Trump—have to leave Republicans unnerved. And then there was Wednesday’s […] Read more »
Getting to Know White Voters
There are LOTS of opinions and narratives out there about white voters. Hillary Clinton lost because white women abandoned her. White, non-college educated voters are Trump’s base. They are never coming back/will come back to Democrats. Donald Trump’s testosterone-laden presidency alienated lots of white, college-educated women who held their noses […] Read more »
A Labor Day Status Report
We’ve been starting Crystal Ball pieces with a few “key points” summing up the article. As we head into Labor Day weekend and the start of the sprint to Election Day, we thought we’d do something different. Instead of key points from this article, here are some key points about […] Read more »
Democratic Embrace of Diverse Candidates Collides With Barbed Politics of Trump Era
Democratic nominees for governor include three African-Americans, two of them in the old Confederacy, a prospect that not long ago would have been unthinkable. Record numbers of women are competing in congressional races. Elsewhere, Muslims, gays, lesbians and transgender people will be on the ballot for high-profile offices. That diverse […] Read more »
What Andrew Gillum vs Ron DeSantis in Florida will tell us about 2020
The governor’s race in Florida not only says a lot about where the Democratic and Republican parties are today but could also tell us where they are headed in the future. Republican Ron DeSantis is the Donald Trump of the 2018 Florida gubernatorial campaign. He was backed by Trump in […] Read more »