Our national fascination with elections has produced entire cottage industries of analysis: What does the election mean for the country’s political establishment, and what brought about its outcome? Those lines of inquiry were especially pronounced following the 2016 election, a contest that featured plenty of storylines—sexism, James Comey, Russian interference, […] Read more »
Can Trump’s Republican Critics Find Strength in Numbers?
Even after Hurricane Helsinki, Donald Trump’s Republican critics still find themselves shouting into the wind. While more Republicans than usual criticized Trump’s dizzying news conference with Vladimir Putin earlier this week, the possibility of a sustained backlash inside the party is already dwindling. It’s splintering against the same rocks that […] Read more »
Gender and the Presidency: A Look Through Polling History
… Time, Clinton’s ubiquitousness in the political consciousness, the historic nature of Barack Obama’s presidency and her own damagingly high negative ratings have all dampened the drama of Clinton’s crowning as the first female nominee of a major party. And of course, other women have preceded her on the national […] Read more »
Sanders’s Practically Unprecedented Success
By steadily increasing his support in national polls to the point where it now essentially equals Hillary Clinton’s, Bernie Sanders has crossed a threshold that few other challengers to a heavily favored front-runner have ever reached. But those gains still leave him facing a steep uphill climb to overcome her […] Read more »
Can Anyone Beat Trump in the Primary? History Says No
Let’s say you’re a Republican who is looking with abject terror at the thought of a Donald Trump nomination. You look at poll numbers from upcoming states—Trump by six! Trump by eight! You read and hear about “vectors” and “glide paths”, and you start looking for reassurance that it’s still […] Read more »
Hillary Clinton Relying on Southern Primaries to Fend Off Rivals
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign is methodically building a political firewall across the South in hopes of effectively locking up the Democratic nomination in March regardless of any early setbacks in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. … Mrs. Clinton’s Southern strategy shows in sharp relief the imprint […] Read more »