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During the semester, I shall post course material and students will comment on it. Students are also free to comment on any aspect of American politics, either current or historical. There are only two major limitations: no coarse language, and no derogatory comments about people at the Claremont Colleges. This blog is on the open Internet, so post nothing that you would not want a potential employer to see. Syllabus: http://gov20h.blogspot.com/2023/08/draft-introduction-to-american-politics.html

Saturday, October 14, 2017

A Country Divided







In case you couldn't tell already, the country is more divided then ever. Pew Research Center survey released earlier this month documented the growth of the partisan divide: “the median (middle) Republican is now more conservative than 97% of Democrats, and the median Democrat is more liberal than 95% of Republicans.” 

According to the New York Times article, part of the reason for Trump's unlikely victory was his ability to take advantage of the divide. If the Democrats don't make a big change in 2020, Trump might just do the same thing again. “More than half of Americans don’t think Donald Trump is fit to serve as president, yet he has a clear path to winning reelection,” Doug Sosnik, who served as President Bill Clinton’s political director, wrote in the Washington Post last week. “Are Democrats Headed for a McGovern Redux?” Alan Greenblatt asked in Politico on Oct. 9. On the same day, a New York Magazine headline declared: “No One Should Rule Out a Trump Re-election in 2020.”

What can Democrats do?

The article offers a number of different academic answers to the question, and it's definitely worth the read, but what do you think? What's the reason for this stark difference in opinion? What can Democrats do to address this divide and capture more of the vote in 2018 and 2020? What should Republicans do? Lastly, in 2020 does Trump stand a chance?

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