Political Commentary

Most Recent Releases

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
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                            August 19, 2025Is Gavin Newsom the Democrats' Answer to Trump? By Daniel McCarthy
        Gavin Newsom wants to be the new Donald Trump.

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                            August 19, 2025'Drill, Baby, Drill' Is Working By Stephen Moore
        Well, so much for the vaunted renewable energy "transition" to save the planet. This was always a fable. We get 80% of our energy from fossil fuels, and with Donald Trump now in the White House, that ratio is rising, not falling.

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                            August 15, 2025Redistricting in Historic Perspective By Michael Barone
In assessing the current controversy over Texas Republicans' proposed redistricting of the state's U.S. House seats, two historic facts should be considered.
August 14, 2025What Fairer House Maps in One-Party Delegation States Could Look Like By J. Miles Coleman
KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE— The recent mid-decade redistricting developments have prompted a debate about proportionality and representation in the House.
— There are several states across the country where either party lacks representation in the House even as its candidates routinely take a sizable minority share of the vote in statewide elections.
— Redistricting could yield more equitable House delegations in those states, although in many cases, it is hard to get a party’s share of the vote exactly in line with its seat count.
— In Ohio, former Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D) entrance into the 2026 Senate race against appointed Sen. Jon Husted (R) has prompted us to move the race from Likely Republican to Leans Republican.

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                            August 14, 2025Anchorage, RussiaGate, and National Guard – Coincidence or Calculation? By Brian Joondeph
One of the keys to President Donald Trump’s political success is his unpredictability. He keeps both domestic opponents and foreign adversaries off balance by refusing to follow the well-worn playbook of his presidential predecessors.

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                            August 13, 2025My Socialist Mayor Part 2 By John Stossel
        The Socialist politicians are coming!

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                            August 13, 2025As Many as 1 Million Kids Will Have School Choice This Year By Stephen Moore
        This is the dawning of the age of school choice.

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                            August 12, 2025Just Say No to More Marijuana By Daniel McCarthy
   Will more marijuana use make America a better place?

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                            August 8, 2025Learning From America's Immigrant Past By Michael Barone
        When debating current issues, it's helpful to avoid inaccurate depictions of past policy, especially on immigration, in which both opponents and advocates of President Donald Trump's policies have views based on not altogether accurate renditions of the past.
August 7, 2025Previewing the 2026 Secretary of State Races By Louis Jacobson
KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE— Next year, 26 states will hold elections for secretary of state. Currently, the GOP holds 26 secretary of state offices to 21 for the Democrats. Three states do not have a secretary of state.
— Our analysis suggests that five secretary of state races this year are currently competitive, including four in the Toss-up category. Democrats will largely be playing defense: All four Toss-up seats are currently held by Democrats.
— During the last election cycle that had this many secretary of state races, 2022, election denialism was a major issue, and in several purple states it helped Democrats defeat Republican nominees aligned with Donald Trump’s allegations of election fraud. With Trump winning back the presidency in 2024 and constitutionally ineligible to run for president again in 2028, it’s unclear whether this factor will remain as salient for voters in 2026.

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                            August 6, 2025My Socialist Mayor By John Stossel
I live in New York City. "Proud Democratic Socialist" Zohran Mamdani is likely to be my next mayor.

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                            August 5, 2025How to Make Sure the US Dominates 21st-Century Telecommunications By Stephen Moore
   Trump's announcement and executive order to ensure that the U.S. dominates the artificial intelligence revolution was a welcome America First policy directive. That mostly means keeping the government out of the way.

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                            August 5, 2025Will the GOP Make Liberals Generous Again? By Daniel McCarthy
   Before politics overwhelmed the word, the primary meaning of "liberal" was "generous."

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                            August 1, 2025Heading Toward Midterm Elections, Democrats Not Up Off the Floor By Michael Barone
        Here's a clue that the off-year elections in November 2026 may not go the way conventional wisdom suggests. That conventional wisdom is that the president's party almost always loses the House and, slightly less often, Senate seats.
July 31, 2025Texas Republicans Aim for Five-Seat Gain in New Proposed Gerrymander By Kyle Kondik and J. Miles Coleman
KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE— A much-anticipated draft of a new Republican gerrymander of Texas emerged Wednesday morning.
— The map is designed to allow Republicans to win five new seats in Texas, which would have the effect of pushing their edge in the state delegation from 25-13 at full strength to 30-8.
— Not all the newly-drawn seats are guaranteed Republican pickups, though.
— We offer tentative possible ratings of the new map’s 38 districts below, although without knowing if the map will be enacted under this form (or at all), we are not actually making any rating changes today.

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                            July 30, 2025Public Believes RussiaGate Was Serious, But Few Expect a Reckoning By Brian Joondeph
Americans largely believe that RussiaGate was more than just smoke and mirrors or a conspiracy theory, as the media suggess. However, despite this belief, only 28 percent of likely voters expect criminal charges against intelligence or Obama-era officials involved in the scandal.

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                            July 30, 2025Tortured by Bureaucrats By John Stossel
Americans like licenses. People think they make us safer.
We license drivers.
We license dogs.

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                            July 29, 2025Desperately Seeking a Pro-Growth Democrat By Stephen Moore
   The most recent Wall Street Journal political poll shows that Democrats have swerved into a deep ditch.

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                            July 29, 2025Trump's Trade Lesson for Economists (and the World) By Daniel McCarthy
        If America is in a trade war, the question to ask is, are we tired of winning yet?

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                            July 25, 2025Are Ex-Presidents a Help or Hindrance? By Michael Barone
For a generation, Americans have had a historically large number of ex-presidents around, a possible source of counsel from one of only 45 people who have exercised the broad powers conferred by Article II of the Constitution.