Over the 20-year period from 1970 to 1990, white people, especially those without college degrees, defected en masse from the Democratic Party. In those years, the percentage of white working-class voters who identified with the Democratic Party fell to 40 percent from 60, Lane Kenworthy, a sociologist at the University […] Read more »
Research Reveals Outsized Role Immigration Plays in Fueling our National Divide
Key Points• Joe Biden and Donald Trump voters feel strongly but in opposite directions on the topic of discrimination, with Biden voters expressing concern about discrimination against minorities, while Trump voters worry that discrimination against whites will increase significantly in the next few years. (see Table 1 below)• Whereas Biden […] Read more »
The median voter is a 50-something white person who didn’t go to college
… Back in 1992, James Carville supposedly hung a sign in Clinton campaign headquarters that said, “it’s the economy, stupid.” By the same token, Democrats today could improve their performance enormously if every staffer’s computer monitor had a Post-It stuck to it that said “the median voter is a 50-something […] Read more »
Can Democrats Win Back the White Working Class?
Key Points• One of the defining features of American politics is the realignment of white, college-educated voters toward Democrats and that of white voters without a degree toward Republicans.• There are competing views on how or whether Democrats can perform better among white non-college voters.• Appealing to the economic interests […] Read more »
U.S. Approval of Interracial Marriage at New High of 94%
Ninety-four percent of U.S. adults now approve of marriages between Black people and White people, up from 87% in the prior reading from 2013. The current figure marks a new high in Gallup’s trend, which spans more than six decades. Just 4% approved when Gallup first asked the question in […] Read more »
How Strong Is America’s Multiracial Democracy?
The issue cutting across every aspect of American politics today is whether — and how — the nation can survive as a multiracial democracy. One key question is what the political impact has been of the decades-long quest to integrate America’s schools. A study published last year, “The Long-Run Effects […] Read more »