Don’t expect any official “Atheists for Hillary” outreach, but political progressives are cheered by a study showing a rise in the number of nonreligious Americans. It’s not because top Democrats are irreligious; both President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are persons of faith. But liberals welcomed the findings of the […] Read more »
Sex, Drugs and Poverty in Red and Blue America
In the fall of 1969, Merle Haggard topped the Billboard country charts for four weeks with “Okie from Muskogee,” the song that quickly became the anthem of red America, even before we called it that. “We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee, we don’t take our trips on LSD, we don’t […] Read more »
Republicans and Democrats Approach 2016 With Different Priorities
In case anyone needed a reminder of why the U.S. has two major but quite different political parties, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll provides this one: Not only do Democrats and Republicans see issues differently, their views of which issues are most important are dramatically different as well. […] Read more »
G.O.P. Struggling With Shifts on Gay Marriage
… Once a winning primary issue as well as a powerful wedge issue wielded against Democrats, opposing same-sex marriage has grown far more complicated for Republicans. While it could offer conservative candidates a way to break through a crowded primary field, it looms as a liability with general election voters, […] Read more »
A New Formula for a Real Democratic Majority
What is the biggest obstacle to Democrats truly winning a national election and pursuing a progressive agenda? What is the biggest obstacle to Democrats winning big enough, geographically broad enough, and deep enough to overcome the constitutional barriers to a governing majority in America? I posed that first question in […] Read more »
Explaining the Republican ‘Lock’ on the House
The results of recent national elections in the United States have followed a clear pattern: Democrats have dominated presidential elections while Republicans have dominated congressional and especially House elections. … Our analysis indicates that the recent Republican “lock” on the House of Representatives is best explained by the inefficient distribution […] Read more »