… The US supreme court has, for now, left it up to states to determine whether or not marriage should be legal. While legalising gay marriage is becoming the majority opinion across the US, state polling indicates that marriage equality is far from becoming the law in every state. Surveys […] Read more »
Race and voting after the Voting Rights Act: What you need to know
Last Tuesday, a narrow Supreme Court majority struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act. … Most observers are skeptical that Congress has the will to craft a new formula, despite the apparent support of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.). … Any revisiting of this formula has to take […] Read more »
Seriously, Is There More Racism in the South?
… Political scientists and pollsters used to have an easier time identifying bigots in surveys; Americans were once very upfront about their discomfort, distrust, and even hatred toward people of other races. Over the past half century or so, though, a social desirability effect has become apparent. Even if a […] Read more »
Politically, the south and New England really are two different Americas
We all know that are national politics are becoming more polarized: Democrats and Republicans are self-sorting into various regions and demographics, like north and south or urban and rural. There are few conservative Democrats and even fewer liberal Republicans. And yet few pay attention to state level politics, even though […] Read more »
The Deep South and Medicaid Expansion
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expands Medicaid so that it can provide health insurance to a larger pool of low income uninsured adults, including adults with no children and whose incomes are below about $16,000 a year. … In the Deep South states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South […] Read more »
Republicans face unexpected challenges in coastal South amid shrinking white vote
… Obama won Virginia and Florida and narrowly missed victory in North Carolina. But he also polled as well in Georgia as any Democrat since Jimmy Carter, grabbed 44 percent of the vote in deep-red South Carolina and just under that in Mississippi — despite doing no substantive campaigning in […] Read more »