Long a key group in Republican politics, white evangelical Christians once again turned out in force in the 2016 GOP presidential primaries and caucuses. But a deep dive into data from NBC News Exit Polls fielded throughout the nation this year—and comparisons with exit polls conducted in 2008 and 2012—show […] Read more »
Threats to Racial Status Promote Tea Party Support Among White Americans
Since its rapid rise in early 2009, scholars have advanced a variety of explanations for popular support for the Tea Party movement. Here we argue that various political, economic, and demographic trends and events – e.g., the election of the first nonwhite president, the rising minority population – have been […] Read more »
The Republican Party’s Woman Problem
It’s entirely possible that for all the talk about the gender gap, Donald Trump could prove more competitive among white women against Hillary Clinton than it appears today. But Trump faces at least as much risk that white women could seal his doom in the general election match-up against Clinton […] Read more »
Trump, Hillary and the Battle for Women and White Voters
Talk to most Republican strategists these days and their views of GOP prospects for 2016 range from depressed to despondent. Democrats, however, are far from giddy. Their opinion of the 2016 Clinton versus Trump match-up ranges from cautiously optimistic to nervously confident. Both sides concede that a race between two […] Read more »
Why is Hillary Clinton doing worse among whites now than in 2008? Racial attitudes.
… The graph below shows that Clinton’s average share of the white vote in 2016 has been 10 points lower than it was against Barack Obama in the states that conducted exit polls in both election years. Meanwhile, her support among blacks is 60 points higher. The dramatic turnaround in […] Read more »
No, it’s not new that some working-class and poor whites vote Republican
… There have been changes over the years, and in the past few elections, the gap between the Republican vote share among rich and poor whites has narrowed. So it’s reasonable to ask what has changed. But don’t kid yourself. The Republican Party has had conservative economic policies for more […] Read more »