Record high Latino participation shows this growing voter segment will turn out for parties and politicians who tackle issues they care about. That’s a big lesson for 2020 – and not just for Dems.
Key victories by pro-Trump, anti-immigrant candidates have confirmed the president’s hold on the Republican Party and his ability to turn out his conservative base.
Two-thirds of all US states now have some kind of legal pot, and support for legalization has never been higher. But ballot initiatives can only take legalization so far, researchers say.
Richard Forno, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Protecting democracy requires more than just technical solutions. It includes education, critical thinking and members of society working together to agree on problems and find solutions.
The Iffy Quotient measured misinformation on social media in the run-up to the recent elections. Facebook has gotten better at combating untrustworthy links, but Twitter still struggles.
Anthony W. Fontes, American University School of International Service
MS-13 is not the biggest or most violent gang in the US. But its grisly murders and Latino membership inflame Americans’ anxiety about immigration. GOP campaign ads stoke those fears to attack Democrats.
Congressional midterm election spending will likely hit a record $5 billion. But the spending masks the main problem with US campaign financing: who gives the money and what they may get in return.
In 1968, Lyndon Johnson’s ridicule of presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey as weak and feminine tells us something about how a party of progressives still struggles with the idea of masculinity.
Two of the fastest growing segments of the American population Latino and Asian-American voters - also are part of evangelical America. Their views on immigration are very different.
A record number of women are poised to win public office in 2018. But don’t look to California for help shifting the gender balance in Congress during the ‘year of the woman.’
A polarized electorate is divided into tribal camps that demonize each other. That’s the setting for the upcoming midterm elections. If the US continues down this path, democracy will suffer.