As New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie heads to Iowa Thursday, prompting another round of talk about his presidential ambitions, he faces a 2016 obstacle maybe as daunting as the “Bridge-gate” scandal rocking his administration: A sizable number of Republican voters there dislike him. A third of Republicans in Iowa (33 […] Read more »
Questions for the GOP’s 2016 field of candidates
Texas Gov. Rick Perry once famously described the 2012 Republican presidential field as the “weakest . . . in history.” Republicans expect better things in 2016, but today there are as many question marks as exclamation points behind the names of their prospective candidates. … The Republican nomination contest is unsettled and […] Read more »
The five clans of the GOP
… Republicans have now become a party of true believers, and true believers do not tolerate heresy. Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the party’s former vice presidential nominee, told Iowa Republicans last week, “This is the Lenten season. Here’s what I say: we give up infighting, tunnel vision, acrimony. We need […] Read more »
In Governors’ Races This Year, Lessons for 2016
… [Scott] Walker is one of eight Republican governors facing re-election who swept into office in 2010 in states that President Obama won two years earlier, driven by the Tea Party at the height of its influence. … But perhaps the most closely watched races will be in four Northern […] Read more »
Scott Walker Could Reunite the GOP
… Right now, the Republican Party is an increasingly factional place, divided between north and south, establishment and grassroots, Tea Party Conservatives and practical Conservatives, religious right and business, libertarians and populists. All the same, it remains possible for a mainline conservative to win the party’s mainstream, marginalize both the […] Read more »
Overview of the Fall 2013 Wisconsin Survey Results
St. Norbert College and Wisconsin Public Radio released the results of their fall 2013 Wisconsin Survey. Wendy Scattergood, assistant political science professor and associate to the Strategic Research Institute at St. Norbert College, provides an overview of the key survey results. St. Norbert College Read more »