Across the postindustrial world, the populist right is excelling in the old bastions of the left. If there is a lesson for the United States in the decision by British voters to exit the European Union, it is the importance of the emerging split between the beneficiaries of multicultural globalism […] Read more »
Is ‘Brexit’ the Precursor to a Donald Trump Presidency? Not So Fast
Britain’s vote to withdraw from the European Union sent a shudder through the capital on Friday as the forces of economic nationalism and working-class fury forced American political leaders to wonder: Could it happen here? Driving the “Brexit” vote were many of the same impulses that have animated American politics […] Read more »
On immigration, the white working class is fearful
Although a few political analysts have been focusing on the white working class for years, it is only in response to the rise of Donald Trump that this large group of Americans has begun to receive the attention it deserves. Now, thanks to a comprehensive survey that the Public Religion […] Read more »
How Immigration and Concerns about Cultural Change are Shaping the 2016 Election
… Americans remain firmly committed to an immigration policy that would allow illegal immigrants a way to become citizens, compared to other policy options. More than six in ten (61%) Americans say immigrants living in the U.S. illegally should be allowed a way to become citizens, provided they meet certain […] Read more »
New political divide on both sides of Atlantic: populists v cosmopolitans
“Disaster narrowly averted” was the British Guardian newspaper’s view of the defeat – by only 31,000 votes out of 4.64 million – of the far right Freedom Party in Austria’s presidential elections this past weekend. But it is hard to escape the conclusion that varied forms of populism – whether […] Read more »
Economic hardship and politics in Indiana
The rise of Donald Trump should inject a dose of humility into those of us who practice political science or political journalism (I plead guilty on both counts). With a few honorable exceptions, we didn’t predict what was coming, and we couldn’t believe the evidence of our own senses as […] Read more »