How to gerrymander your way to a huge election victory. A voter casts his ballot during the 2012 U.S. presidential election at a polling station on Staten Island.
(Keith Bedford/Reuters) A recent analysis by political scientists John Sides and Eric McGhee suggests that Democrats are poised to win a majority of votes in U.S. House contests but walk away with a minority of seats — again. Why This Was the Year the Traditional Presidential Campaign Died Yes, Polarization Is Asymmetric—and Conservatives Are Worse. For the past few years, simmering debates have taken place among scholars, journalists, and pundits over the meaning of polarization in American politics.
One of those debates has been about the level of polarization in the broader public. Scholars such as Mo Fiorina of Stanford have maintained that the public is not really polarized, and that any changes are a natural sorting process. Others, such as Alan Abramowitz of Emory, muster data to show that the citizenry has become more polarized. The second debate has been about the nature of polarization among elites, especially in Washington. One big reason Congress ignores the poor: they don't vote. Not that many people vote in midterm elections.
While 57.5 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the 2012 presidential race, a mere 41.9 percent did in 2014, according to data from the Census Bureau. Midterm turnout isn’t just low, though. It’s falling. It tumbled from 47.8 percent in 2006 to 45.5 percent in 2010 before falling yet further to 41.9 percent in 2014. Bloomberg Business - Business, Financial & Economic News, Stock Quotes. This Is How Fast America Changes Its Mind By Alex Tribou and Keith CollinsUpdated: June 26, 2015 Eleven years after Massachusetts became the first state to allow same-sex couples to marry, the Supreme Court has now extended that right nationwide.
The decision came after a wave of gay marriage legalization: 28 states from 2013 to 2015, with 36 overall prior to the Court's ruling. 14 Reasons Why House and Senate Republicans Have Declared Economic War On Average Americans. Photo Credit: Image by Shutterstock, Copyright (c) Christopher Halloran.
12 charts that show American politics has gone off the rails. 1) Congress is less popular than Richard Nixon was during Watergate, or than the banks were during the financial crisis <img alt='<a href=" Michael Bennet/Washington Post</a>' src=" Sen.
Michael Bennet/Washington Post 2) In the 2010 election, 0.26 percent of the population gave 68 percent of the money. How Ohio Pulled $4 Billion+ from Communities and Redistributed It Upwards. The Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill 66 promising to improve economic conditions for Ohioans.
H.B. 66 eliminated the corporate income tax and reduced state income taxes by 21%. Governor Taft from his 2006 state of the state speech: At this time last year we had a tax code that was mired in the distant past, punishing investment and ignoring innovation. We worked day and night to bring that code into the 21st Century.
We cut the income tax. The promise was jobs and growth. Impact of H.B. 66. States where you can get high at a same-sex wedding, in one chart. The political movement for marijuana legalization is often compared to the political movement for marriage equality.
Both causes are seen by their supporters as civil rights issues, and both are very popular among Democrats and progressives, particularly younger voters. How does that translate to the state level? The Washington Post's Philip Bump created a great Venn diagram showing which states allow marijuana and same-sex marriage, but his diagram didn't distinguish between medical and recreational marijuana. This is a very crucial distinction, since marijuana is unusual in that it can be legalized for entirely different purposes — and many more states allow medical marijuana than recreational. We decided to make a similar diagram that goes a little bit further, showing the intersection of states where same-sex marriage is legal, states where medical marijuana is legal, and states where recreational marijuana is legal or soon to be legal:
Election maps. Email: Thanks to everyone who wrote in about the maps.
I've received so much email that I may not be able to reply to everyone, but I much appreciate all your comments and suggestions. Many of the things people have been asking about are answered in this list of frequently asked questions. I have new cartograms of the 2016 election results. Everything Is Awesome! - Michael Grunwald - POLITICO Magazine. Good news!
The U.S. economy grew at a rollicking 5 percent rate in the third quarter. Oh, and it added 320,000 jobs in November, the best of its unprecedented 57 straight months of private-sector employment growth. Meet the Fortune 500 Companies Funding the Political Resegregation of America. This post first appeared at Mother Jones. North Carolina’s heavily gerrymandered 12th congressional district.
(Photo: Mother Jones) Over the past four to five years, the United States has been resegregated — politically. In states where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans and presidential races can be nail-biters, skillful Republican operatives have mounted racially-minded gerrymandering efforts — the redrawing of congressional and state legislative districts — that have led to congressional delegations stacked with GOP members and yielded Republican majorities in the state legislatures.
When Whites Just Don’t Get It, Part 4. Photo WHEN I write about racial inequality in America, one common response from whites is eye-rolling and an emphatic: It’s time to move on. “As whites, are we doomed to an eternity of apology?” How Dark Money Is Taking Over Judicial Elections. Dark Money Helped Win the Senate. Polarized America Page. View Site Map McCain For President?
Obama For President? How the most ideologically polarized Americans live different lives. For America’s most ardent liberals and conservatives, polarization begins at home. In what may seem like stereotypes come to life, a new Pew Research Center study on political polarization finds that conservatives would rather live in large houses in small towns and rural areas — ideally among people of the same religious faith — while liberals opt for smaller houses and walkable communities in cities, preferably with a mix of different races and ethnicities. And sizable minorities of both groups say they’d be dismayed if someone from the “other side” were to marry into their family. Those findings, and others in the Pew Research report, illustrate how ideological and partisan loyalties can both reflect and reshape Americans’ everyday lives. What If the Pundits Are Right After All? A Reply on Polarization and Sorting. Is the Affordable Care Act Working? – This Guy Put His Hospital Bill Online. Now The Whole World is Talking About It.
The Long War Journal - Charts on US Strikes in Pakistan. Politics Is a Dirty Business. I Ought to Know. - Michael Corwin - POLITICO Magazine. You Didn't Pay Attention To Money In Politics In 2013, So We Boiled Down The Whole Year For You. WASHINGTON -- The year after a presidential election, fewer people focus on campaign finance issues, but 2013 was well worth your attention. There were financial scandals, a new Supreme Court case, laws rewritten and the anticipation of more money than ever before. The Singular Waste of America's Healthcare System in 1 Remarkable Chart - Matthew O'Brien.
How Supreme Court Decision on Voting Rights Act is Affecting State Laws. National Child Mortality Data. Think Obama’s a huge spender? Then you need to see these two charts. On Tuesday, Kevin Drum posted this chart showing the growth in total government spending -- that means federal, state and local -- adjusted by population ("per capita"). Guns kill people, in one chilling graph. By the Numbers: Comparing Spending by Gun Rights and Gun Control Interest Groups. Explore Government Subsidies - Interactive Feature. Failed Republican Economics are at the Root of America's Decade of Economic Woe. 5 Ways Most Americans Are Blind to How Their Country Is Stacked for the Wealthy. 5 signs racism still rules politics.
How Ridiculous Gerrymanders Saved the House Republican Majority. The Cartoonomist. A keep-the-bums-in mood may prevail in midterm election. Reform the Patriot Act - Surveillance, Privacy, and National Security Law Since 9/11. Charts That Should Get Obama Reelected. Election maps. A remarkable, historic period of change. Two charts that should be in every health-care discussion. The single best graph on what’s driving our deficits. Health Systems and Health Costs. How the Affordable Care Act Helps the U.S. Economy - Economic Intelligence. 13 Final Thoughts About the Health Care Arguments - Andrew Cohen - National. This Is Why Americans Vote Against Economic Self-Interest. Thomas Frank: Obama’s squandered hope. Obama 2012 Re-Election Chances: We'll Miss Him When He's Gone. Liberals Need to Start Holding Obama Responsible for His Policies. Why I Refuse to Vote for Barack Obama - Conor Friedersdorf. Why News Coverage of the Debate May Matter More than the Debate.
Why we need a third party. The Last Moderate. America: The Grim Truth. Twin Forces Paralyze Washington. The history of the filibuster (one graph) Ryan’s big lie - Obstruction/Filibuter. 'A Process That Is Running Out of Control': The New Nullification Crisis - James Fallows - Politics. Wonkbook: 10 facts that explain the filibuster fight. Senate problems - two graphs. DREAMing of bipartisanship. Why Republicans Oppose the Individual Health-Care Mandate. 12 most despicable things Fox News did in 2012. 5 reasons why America has a Republican problem. Senate Gridlock Explained in One Chart - National. The GOP's neat trick on Obama ‘polarization’ - The Plum Line. The Plan to Steal Ohio This Election. 2012 Summary of Voting Law Changes. Federal Court Calls Texas Voting Maps Discriminatory. Judge Refuses To Block Pa. Voter ID Law; Appeal Headed To State Supreme Court : It's All Politics.
Voter Suppression, Explained. Timeline: The Long History of Voter Suppression. The Hack Gap Rears Its Ugly Head Yet Again. The War on Objectivity. Vote Stalkers: Obama, Romney Campaigns Mine Trove of Voters' Online Data to Win '12 Election. How Mitt Romney Followed Me Around the Internet. Why media neutrality over the US presidential election is fuelling lies.
The House GOP can’t be beat: It’s worse than gerrymandering. GOP Approves 'Most Conservative Platform In Modern History' The GOP's media cocoon - Jonathan Martin. A millionaire for higher taxes. Fighting for real ‘shared sacrifice’ Jon Stewart Has Had It with How Fox Talks About Class Warfare - Entertainment. Comparing taxes under Obama’s and Romney’s budgets. Bruce Bartlett: Rich Nontaxpayers.