Unexpectedly, the 2020 presidential campaign is drilling down on petty crime and homelessness. Donald Trump and his Republican allies are reviving law-and-order themes similar to those used effectively by Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew in the late 1960s and early 1970s to demonize racial minorities. To this end, Republicans seek […] Read more »
When local newspapers suffer, so do local elections
Residents of American cities and towns have long looked to local newspapers for reliable information on the activities and electoral politics of their local governments. In the past decade though, newsrooms have slashed their staffing levels, and many newspapers folded altogether. As city newspapers shrank, it appears there were serious […] Read more »
How uneven economic growth feeds political turmoil
When it comes to economic innovation, the rich are getting richer — and that’s generating increasing social frustration and political turmoil for the winners and losers alike as the digital revolution rolls through the American economy. Over the past 15 years, employment in the computer- and science-based industries at the […] Read more »
Trump’s options for winning a second term are narrowing
The tumultuous impeachment hearings and the string of GOP election losses this fall underline the electoral risks Republicans are courting as they allow President Donald Trump to refashion the party in his combative image. In overlapping ways, the election results and the hearings — in particular Trump’s characteristically belligerent response […] Read more »
Why the Louisiana Governor’s Race Is So Close
The crucial cultural dividing line in Louisiana has always been north-south. Those who live in north Louisiana are mostly Protestant, speak with a familiar Southern twang and, in the modern era, voted heavily Republican. But rural South Louisiana is more Catholic, the accent is like nothing else (as anyone knows […] Read more »
Density Increasingly Decides State Elections, Too
Tuesday’s election results show how America is continuing to polarize along an urban-rural continuum. But it’s not playing out the same everywhere. Voters on Tuesday gave Democrats a resounding victory in races for Virginia’s general assembly, a narrow victory in Kentucky’s gubernatorial election, and a defeat in Mississippi’s gubernatorial race. […] Read more »