Considering that 2012 saw the first presidential contest in which there was no white mainline Protestant anywhere on the presidential ticket, religion played a surprisingly subtle role in the election cycle. But even if religion played more of a supporting than a leading role in the election, the religion factor […] Read more »
My 2012 polling predictions with hindsight: a few mea culpas
The new year is nearly upon us. This past year, I’ve contributed a fair share of columns that I think were quite good, but I’ve also written some columns that could have been better. I believe that any good analysts must learn from his or her errors. So here, without […] Read more »
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama Most Admired in 2012
Americans again this year name Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama as the Most Admired Woman and Most Admired Man living in any part of the world. Clinton has been the Most Admired Woman each of the last 11 years, and Obama has been the Most Admired […] Read more »
Video: The wild ride to Election Day
CNN National Political Correspondent Jim Acosta counts down the top 10 moments on what was a wild ride to the Election Day this year. CNN Read more »
Were Obama’s Early Ads Really the Game Changer?
Many post-mortems of the 2012 presidential campaign suggest that Mitt Romney erred by allowing President Obama to “define” him early through an advertising blitz in battleground states. … The problem, however, is that there is very little evidence that these early ads mattered much, according to research I have done […] Read more »
Best year in Washington: Nate Silver
… Every election cycle turns out its stars — likely and unlikely — and there’s no question that Silver and his FiveThirtyEight blog for the New York Times shone the brightest in 2012. For most of the campaign, Silver toiled, if not in obscurity, than in the insular world of […] Read more »