What fueled Democrats’ victories on Tuesday? A quick analysis from the New York Times suggests this was a “suburban rebellion,” with moderates shifting from Donald Trump to Democrats. A look at the Virginia vote, however, suggests that votes in the most rural, conservative counties may hold the real story. CONT. […] Read more »
A year after Trump’s election, York, Pa., is forever changed
… Trump’s election a year ago profoundly altered the United States in ways that continue to reverberate, but perhaps most visibly and disturbingly in how we talk to one another, especially about the hardest things, like the nation’s racial divide. The volume is up; the edge is sharp. Old grievances […] Read more »
This is the new ‘giant sucking sound’ you hear. It’s changing the economy and disrupting politics
To understand two of the most volatile currents in modern politics, the best place to start is with a fundamental shift in the geography of economic opportunity. Reversing the pervasive urban decline of 20th century’s final decades, opportunity is once again flowing into the urban cores of the nation’s largest […] Read more »
Two Counties Defining the Battle Lines of the GOP’s Civil War
Republican infighting in Washington may be grabbing headlines, but it’s outside the Beltway, in the trenches, that the party’s civil war is really being waged. The battleground can be seen in the rural, rolling hills and evangelical congregations of Wilkes County, North Carolina, and the upscale suburban sprawl of Delaware […] Read more »
Country or City? How You Live Determines How You Vote
Of all the splits that define the Red/Blue divide in American politics, the most dominant one may be the one that runs through everyday life, where we live. Those environmental differences are a crucial part of what makes the partisan divide so intractable. The Democratic Party is increasingly tied to […] Read more »
Nothing Divides Voters Like Owning a Gun
Americans are deeply split along demographic lines, but there aren’t many demographic characteristics that embody America’s cultural divide better than gun ownership. In the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas on Sunday, the polling firm SurveyMonkey published a pair of maps from its 2016 presidential election exit polls. […] Read more »