Political Commentary

Most Recent Releases

April 6, 2023How the Other Half Votes: The East By Kyle Kondik
The presidential trends from Pennsylvania to Florida.KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE— After looking at the Midwest last week, we’re comparing the presidential voting trajectory of the bigger counties versus the rest of the state in a number of eastern states.
— Georgia had exactly opposite top and bottom halves in 2020, with a very Republican (but stable) bottom half and Democratic-trending top half driven by changes in Atlanta.
— North Carolina and Pennsylvania are mirror images on opposite sides of the political divide.
— Florida’s turn toward the Republicans has been a bit more pronounced in its top half of bigger counties compared to its bottom half, making it an outlier among the states we’ve studied.
— South Carolina’s status as a red state is much more about its top half than its bottom half.

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                            April 5, 2023Trump Good and Evil By John Stossel
The Stossel TV Studio is just a block from Trump Tower.

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                            April 4, 2023Hey, Uncle Sam: Stop Paying People for Not Working By Stephen Moore
A policy question these days that has befuddled federal lawmakers is why so many millions of people have not returned to the workplace in the post-COVID-19 era.

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                            March 31, 2023Will Republicans Find a Way to Get Their Way in 2024? By Michael Barone
Twelve or 13 months from now, the race for the Republican nomination for president -- and the race for the Democratic nomination, if there is one -- will probably be over.
March 30, 2023How the Other Half Votes By Kyle Kondik
The competing halves of states in the Midwest.KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE— This piece analyzes recent presidential voting patterns in the Midwest by comparing the big counties that cast roughly half the statewide vote with the smaller counties that cast the rest of the statewide vote.
— In Illinois and Minnesota, more than half of the statewide vote comes from dominant metro areas, and improvements in those areas from 2012 to 2020 allowed Democrats to maintain their strong position in both states.
— The smaller-county halves of Iowa and Ohio have zoomed right, pushing them out of the roster of competitive states.
— The bottom hasn’t dropped out for Democrats in nearly the same way in Michigan and Wisconsin.

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                            March 29, 2023My COVID Experience By John Stossel
When I swallow, knives cut my throat.

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                            March 28, 2023Honey, Joe Biden Just Shrunk Our Pension By Stephen Moore
President Joe Biden recently issued his first veto since taking office on Jan. 20, 2021.

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                            March 24, 2023America Seems to Go Crazy Every 50 Years or So By Michael Barone
Amid news that Donald Trump is about to be indicted by a hyperpartisan prosecutor and of his hysterical responses, and prompted by vagrant reading about the War of 1812 and Woodrow Wilson's violations of civil liberties in World War I, a thought occurred to me. America seems to go crazy every 50 years or so.
March 23, 2023The Transformation of the American Electorate By Alan I. Abramowitz
Race, education, and partisanship from Reagan to Biden.KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE— The American electorate has changed dramatically over the past 40 years, and a pair of factors — race and education — have driven the changes.
— The electorate has become more diverse and more highly educated. Democrats rely heavily on nonwhite voters and have improved with white college-educated voters, while Republicans have cut deeply into Democratic support with non-college whites.
— Racial and cultural issues, rather than economic ones, have fueled Republican gains with the non-college white electorate.

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                            March 22, 2023Diversity Training Disaster By John Stossel
   All big American companies now require DEI training: diversity, equity and inclusion.

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                            March 21, 2023Michigan Is Headed Back to Rust Belt Poverty By Stephen Moore
Since the early days of Henry Ford, Michigan was the proud symbol of America's industrial might.

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                            March 17, 2023'Woke' Silicon Valley -- Sand Hill Road and Stanford Law -- Get Off Scot-free By Michael Barone
As one who has spent pleasant time on Sand Hill Road and the Stanford campus, I'm dismayed by the demands for special treatment coming from the denizens of one of America's most privileged and affluent precincts.
March 16, 2023A First Look at 2024 State Supreme Court Contests By Carah Ong Whaley
KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE— The fate of Wisconsin’s state supreme court will be decided next month.
— About two-thirds of the states will have supreme court elections next year.
— Key states with supreme court elections to watch in 2024 include Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, and Ohio.

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                            March 15, 2023Better Flying By John Stossel
   Your flight is delayed? Blame your government.

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                            March 14, 2023Death Taxes Are Immoral. Even Worse, They Don't Work. By Stephen Moore
       "I have no respect for the passion of equality," Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., one of America's great jurists, once declared, "which seems to me merely idealizing envy."

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                            March 10, 2023COVID-19 Lab Leak: Another Conspiracy Theory Come True By Brian C. Joondeph
Where did COVID-19 come from? Was it a lab leak or from a Chinese wet market? Any scientist or researcher suggesting the former, that COVID-19 originated in or was released from a lab, was ridiculed as a conspiracy theorist. The lab in question is the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the “largest BSL4 lab in the world” the type of facility where such research would be conducted.

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                            March 10, 2023Anatomy of the Chicago Mayor's Election By Michael Barone
Big city elections provide clues about trends in national politics, the composition and attitudes of Democratic constituency groups, and voters' responses to emerging matters. Recent examples include the March 2019 primary for mayor of Chicago and the June 2021 Democratic contest in New York City.
March 9, 2023The Republican Presidential Primary: Still Early, but Maybe Getting Late By Kyle Kondik and J. Miles Coleman
The field remains unformed, but if DeSantis is the real deal, there’s not much room for other challengers to Trump.KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE— The calendar year before the presidential primary voting begins is often defined by winnowing, as contenders emerge and then fade.
— But Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis are taking up so much oxygen that we may already have the top contenders, with everyone else who runs essentially an afterthought.
— DeSantis is polling well for a non-candidate, but we need to see how he actually performs before assuming that his support is solid.
— If another candidate supplants DeSantis (or Trump), or at least vaults into their stratosphere, don’t necessarily assume it will be someone who is currently well-known now or has a lot of formal political experience.

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                            March 8, 2023Students Defend Freedom By John Stossel
 Government imposes a million rules. Americans seem to want more!

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                            March 7, 2023America's $100 Billion Climate Change Flop By Stephen Moore
For at least the last 20 years, politicians in Washington, at the behest of green energy groups, have spent some $100 billion of taxpayer money to fight climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. How is that going for us so far?