Category Archives: political polarization

“Can Our Political Institutions Handle Our Political Divisions?”

January 25, 2017, 8:27 ampolitical polarizationRick Hasen

New Lee Drutman report for the New America Foundation: Executive Summary The United States is a politically divided nation. These divisions have only grown deeper in the past decade. They are increasingly paralyzing our democratic institutions, which rely on cooperation… Continue reading

“Playing Cards in a Hurricane: Party Reform in an Age of Polarization”

January 18, 2017, 9:10 pmpolitical parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

Heather Gerken has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Houston Law Review). Here is the abstract: In his Frankel Lecture, “Outsourcing Politics: The Hostile Takeovers of Our Hollowed Out Parties,” Sam Issacharoff suggests that legal changes have systematically disabled the… Continue reading

“How big is the gap between the donor class and ordinary Americans? Bigger than you think.”

December 15, 2016, 2:46 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, political polarizationRick Hasen

Sean McElwee, Jesse Rhodes, and Brian Schaffner for Monkey Cage: Across the board, we find that donors as a group are more partisan than non-donors who share their party affiliation. For example, Democratic donors were 10 percentage points more… Continue reading

“Why the GOP Congress Will Stop Trump from Going Too Far”

December 14, 2016, 8:51 ampolitical parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

Interesting Daniel Stid for Washington Monthly.

“Could campaign finance overhaul help solve congressional gridlock?”

December 8, 2016, 7:27 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, political parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

Open Secrets reports on today’s Excellent Sidley forum at NYU in DC: Should we restrict political contributions? How have weakened political parties impacted this election? Can public financing work? President-elect Donald Trump pledged to “drain the swamp,” yet has not… Continue reading

How Will Congress and the Separation of Powers Function Under a Trump Administration?

November 29, 2016, 12:32 pmlegislation and legislatures, political parties, political polarizationRichard Pildes

Christopher DeMuth, former head of OIRA in the Reagan OMB and former President of AEI, has a long, thoughtful essay in the weekend Wall Street Journal in which he explores whether the separation of powers might see a revival in… Continue reading

The New Political Realism: Transactional Politics and Earmarks

November 29, 2016, 8:35 amlegislation and legislatures, political polarizationRichard Pildes

Last week, Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post reported that there was “significant support” within the House Republican conference for bringing back earmarks. Republicans eliminated earmarks when they took the House majority in 2010 as part of “political reforms” that… Continue reading

“A Narrower Majority for Republicans Could Widen the House Divide”

November 4, 2016, 8:50 amlegislation and legislatures, political parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

NYT: But some members of the Freedom Caucus seem to have another agenda in mind. They strategized behind closed doors on Wednesday about how to press for their priorities during the lame-duck session, as well as under a potential… Continue reading

“Republicans are now vowing Total War. And the consequences could be immense.”

November 3, 2016, 11:50 amlegislation and legislatures, political polarization, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Important read from Paul Waldman: I know, my conservative friends will say that this kind of talk is just fear-mongering and exaggeration. But there is something deeply troubling happening right now, and it goes beyond the ordinary trading of blows… Continue reading

“The Divided States of America”

September 22, 2016, 11:21 ampolitical parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

Must-read Lee Drutman NYT oped: Reading the nonstop coverage of what may well be a close presidential election, one might be forgiven for thinking that political competition is alive and well in America. But look at the majority of states… Continue reading

“Senate Dysfunction Blocks Bipartisan Criminal Justice Overhaul”

September 16, 2016, 7:19 amlegislation and legislatures, political parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

NYT: A major criminal-justice overhaul bill seemed destined to be the bipartisan success story of the year, consensus legislation that showed lawmakers could still rise above politics and take on a serious societal problem. Then the election got in… Continue reading

“Conservative Bloc Could Grow Within House GOP; With centrists at risk in election, conservatives stand to gain more influence”

September 15, 2016, 6:48 ampolitical parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

WSJ reports.

“The Republicans waged a 3-decade war on government. They got Trump.”

July 18, 2016, 8:15 ampolitical parties, political polarizationRick Hasen

Ornstein and Mann for Vox.

“Asymmetrical Polarization Undermined? Thoughts on the New Pew Research Center’s Report on Political Polarization”

May 15, 2016, 9:17 pmpolitical polarizationRick Hasen

Tom Mann: The new Pew Research Center report on polarization is a gold mine of insights into how the sharp partisan polarization, so pronounced in Congress and among political elites, has penetrated the broader public. Pew researchers trace significant… Continue reading