Category Archives: political polarization

The Republican Party’s Invisible Primary

May 9, 2023, 4:46 ampolitical parties, political polarization, primaries2024 Primary Election Cycle, invisible primaryTabatha Abu El-Haj

Seth Masket, writing at Politico, shares results of his survey of GOP county chairs about their current leanings in the 2024 presidential primary. “Overall, this survey suggests a group of party insiders that hasn’t made up its mind, but… Continue reading

Electing Women Could Reduce Polarization

May 8, 2023, 5:14 ampolitical parties, political polarizationNew ScholarshipTabatha Abu El-Haj

A thanks to Lee Drutman for resurfacing a 2022 article in the American Political Science Review, based on an original dataset of political parties in 20 Western democracies, suggesting that having more elected officials who are women associated with… Continue reading

Ranked choice on the menu

May 2, 2023, 4:00 pmalternative voting systems, political parties, political polarization, primariesJustin Levitt

There must be something in the water today. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board decries a “two-party system in a one-party town,” in advocating a switch from splintered partisan primaries to a nonpartisan primary with ranked-choice voting. Illinois state Rep. Kam… Continue reading

“Americans fault news media for dividing nation”

May 1, 2023, 7:44 pmpolitical polarizationJustin Levitt

This latest AP-NORC poll on the public’s assessment of media impact on democracy and polarization isn’t great news. I don’t know if they polled on the impact of different media formats separately (and I’d love the pointer if anyone does… Continue reading

“For Saner Politics, Try Stronger Parties; Well-intended reforms have made the national parties weak and ineffective—and unable to resist their most extreme elements”

April 24, 2023, 7:33 ampolitical parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

Gerald Seib WSJ column.

“If Tennessee’s Legislature Looks Broken, It’s Not Alone; State legislatures around the country — plagued by partisan division, uncompetitive races and gerrymandering — reflect the current pressures on democracy.”

April 14, 2023, 8:41 amlegislation and legislatures, political polarizationRick Hasen

Michael Wines for the NYT: There are 99 legislators in the Tennessee House of Representatives, the body that voted on Thursday to expel two of its Democratic members for leading an anti-gun protest in the chamber. Sixty of them had… Continue reading

“The Republican Strategists Who Have Carefully Planned All of This”

April 12, 2023, 7:26 ampolitical polarizationRick Hasen

Tom Edsall NYT column: Republican leaders are now adopting increasingly autocratic measures, using the police powers of government to impose moralized regulations, turning private citizens into enforcement officers and expelling defiant elected Democrats just as county Republican parties, particularly in… Continue reading

“New report outlines the deep political polarization’s slow and steady march”

April 9, 2023, 3:01 pmpolitical polarization, redistrictingJustin Levitt

The WaPo with highlights from Dave Wasserman’s latest report, blogged here.

“Realignment, More Than Redistricting, Has Decimated Swing House Seats”

April 5, 2023, 1:40 pmpolitical polarization, redistrictingJustin Levitt

Dave Wasserman reignites the forever wars over whether polarization and residential moving patterns or redistricting is more to blame for the drop in competitive congressional seats. (Just about everyone believes that the answer is that it’s both. The political science… Continue reading

“Dividing the Body Politic”

March 15, 2023, 3:19 pmpolitical polarization, theoryRick Hasen

Jim Gardner has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, University of Chicago Law Forum). Here is the abstract: It has long been assumed in large, modern, democratic states that the successful practice of democratic politics requires some kind of internal… Continue reading

“Do We Need to Party Better to Fix U.S. Democracy?”

February 4, 2023, 7:58 ampolitical parties, political polarizationNew ScholarshipTabatha Abu El-Haj

Didi Kuo and I recently spoke with Daniel Stid, Executive Director of Lyceum Labs about our recent article, Associational Party Building: A Path to Rebuilding Democracy. Daniel pushed us on the questions such as whether we are calling… Continue reading

Manheim on Election Law and Election Subversion

December 10, 2022, 5:26 amelection administration, political polarizationDerek Muller

Lisa Marshall Manehim, Election Law and Election Subversion (Yale Law Journal): Scholars of American election law used to take the rule of law as a given. The legal system, while highly imperfect, appeared sturdy, steady, and functional. Recent election cycles—culminating… Continue reading

The Limits of Federal Voting Rights Reform

November 28, 2022, 8:01 ampolitical parties, political polarizationTabatha Abu El-Haj

Voting rights are under attack, both by Republican state legislature and by the conservative majority of the Supreme Court. Given Congress’s rejection of voting reforms in January 2022, Didi Kuo and I argue, in our new article, that it… Continue reading

“Associational Party-Building: A Path to Rebuilding Democracy”

November 21, 2022, 6:34 ampolitical parties, political polarization, UncategorizedNew ScholarshipTabatha Abu El-Haj

Didi Kuo (Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Stanford University) and I are excited to share our new article, Associational Party-Building: A Path to Rebuilding Democracy, which is out today in the Columbia Law Review Forum.… Continue reading