How Working-Class White Voters Became the GOP’s Foundation

The escalating confrontation between the parties over the federal budget rests on a fundamental paradox: The Republican majority in the House of Representatives is now more likely than Democrats to represent districts filled with older and lower-income voters who rely on the social programs that the GOP wants to cut. […] Read more »

Majorities of Americans Approve of Citizens and Elected Officials Speaking Their Minds on Politics, but Not Public School Teachers

Majorities of Americans are supportive of fellow citizens, members of Congress, and professional athletes speaking their minds about politics, but not public school teachers in the classroom – according to the newest edition of the Grinnell College National Poll. The findings of the poll, conducted March 14–19, 2023, by Selzer […] Read more »

Republicans’ views of the US have become more pessimistic, polling shows

Heading into the next presidential election, an analysis of CNN polls shows that Republicans have reverted to the deeply negative national outlook they held prior to Donald Trump’s presidential victory in 2016. They again are convinced the nation is in decline, and more often defensive against demographic and cultural changes […] Read more »

Why ‘MAGA’ is so appealing to older Republicans

… In the 2016 election, Trump leveraged concerns among older Republicans about the changing demography of the United States to his benefit. His slogan — make America great again — was not specifically about race, but it incorporated a sense that America had declined as it also was less disproportionately […] Read more »

How Biden Is Shaping the 2024 Battlefield

President Joe Biden is following a strategy of asymmetrical warfare as the 2024 presidential race takes shape. Through the early maneuvering, the leading Republican candidates, particularly former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are trying to ignite a procession of culture-war firefights against what DeSantis calls “the woke […] Read more »

While Democrats may have bucked the national trend, Republicans still hold a large sway in GOP-led states

In Democratic-leaning and swing states, voters last week delivered an unmistakable cry of resistance to the restrictive Republican social agenda symbolized by the drive to ban abortion. But in red states where Republicans have actually imposed that agenda over the past two years, GOP governors cruised to reelection without any […] Read more »