Mischiefs of Faction
This post is part of Mischiefs of Faction, an independent political science blog featuring reflections on the party system.
Despite some interesting recent anecdotes, surveys show young evangelicals to be much more conservative than others of their generation.
Left unchecked, the Court’s Republican majority has the power to nullify Democratic policies going forward.
Under a different GOP president, Republicans likely would have kept the House.
It takes a while for the story of an election to emerge.
The electorate likely will not be dramatically more diverse than it was when Donald Trump was elected.
Is this how democracy starts to die?
The phrase still uses institutional authority to enforce traditional gender norms and power relations.
Bolsonaro supporters don’t object to democracy, but they really like the military. What will happen when the military and democracy conflict?
Elections are terrible mechanisms for holding politicians accountable, but voting is important for democracy anyway.
Her fundraising prowess and past legislative accomplishments aren’t enough to overcome deeper grievances.
Brazil’s 2018 first-round election shows the pitfalls of polling in developing countries.
Maybe Trump is turning off voters to the idea of stars in politics.
Julia Azari and Seth Masket look for lessons on parties and principles in Bob Woodward’s new book, Fear.
Different party cultures mean that Democratic elites support women candidates often — and because of their gender — while Republican elites do not.
States as states do need representation in the federal government. Under the Constitution, they have far too much.
Party-backed candidates used to dominate primaries; now interest group-backed ones tend to win, due to Citizens United.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski paired her vote with another Republican in a rare and savvy move.
Evangelicals and Pentecostals drove the spike in Jair Bolsonaro’s support.
There are values that transcend partisan politics. But not all of them are worth preserving.
Judge Kavanaugh broke the fourth wall, and showed a willingness not to protect the vulnerable.
Democrats now take sexual harassment much more seriously; Republicans have moved in the other direction.
We have a lot of norms about democracy. They’re not all consistent.
It used to be about rejecting partisanship. Not anymore.
House Democrats don’t have unified campaign agenda for the midterms. That’s unusual for the party on the winning side of a “wave” election.
A systematic, but not definitive, analysis of the language and what it might tell us about the author.
How covering up abuse scandals may have affected the politics of the Catholic Church.
Mavericks are the canaries in the legislative coal mine.
The recent DNC vote over superdelegates revealed longstanding divisions within the party
One thing is clear: It’s not due to declining religious devotion.
Democrats tend to make substantial rules changes right after a controversial nomination.
To explain policy inaction, we can’t just look at individuals and human nature.
Republican leaders’ verbal pushback against Trump isn’t nothing, but it’s far short of what they could be doing.
The case for (and against) cautious optimism about the rule changes.
Civil rights advocates should not cede ground in defining “the law.”
The ballot will have two US Senate races, one with party labels and one without them. The latter could help the Democratic candidate.
Republican Party platforms are now open and explicit about policy litmus tests for Supreme Court nominees.
Quorum-breaking can be very disruptive but does not provide a long-term option for blocking a Supreme Court nomination.
It has the potential to strengthen partisanship in important ways.