Are millennials tolerant racists?
Millennials are considered the most diverse, tolerant and racially progressive generation in U.S. history. “The younger generation is more racially tolerant than their elders,” the Pew Research Center...
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How Donors Distort Democracy
It’s early, but arguably the most important paper of the year has already been released. The author, Michael Jay Barber, finds persuasive evidence that those who donate more than $200 (.22% of the...
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Professionalizing Legislatures Is a Progressive Policy
In recent years, many political scientists have released eye-opening data suggesting that policymakers simply aren’t very responsive to low- and middle-income Americans. There are likely many reasons...
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How To Create a More Progressive America
Barring a dramatic scandal or an unforeseen event, Hillary Clinton will be the 2016 Democratic party nominee for president. While many on the left have complained about her close ties to banks and her...
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What the Republican Nominee Says About the Party
The GOP coalition is increasingly useless at the presidential level. Gerrymandering and residential segregation in the House of Representatives, depressed turnout in off-year elections, and the...
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Obama Is Right: America Needs Universal Voting
Yesterday, President Obama said, in a speech at the City Club of Cleveland, “In Australia, and some other countries, there’s mandatory voting. It would be transformative if everybody voted.” Obama is...
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Rubio Will Likely Be The Republican Nominee
Barring a massive strategic blunder, Marco Rubio is well-positioned to become the Republican nominee for President in 2016. The Florida senator is the ideal candidate to expand the Reagan coalition...
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The Proposed Payday Regulations Are a Good First Step, But More Needs to Be Done
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a blueprint for new regulations pertaining to payday loans and car title loans. The regulations will not include an interest rate cap, the holy...
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For the Effects of Voting, Look to Policy, Not Elections
President Obama’s recent comments on universal voting have spurred a debate about how such a policy would influence elections. On the Monkey Cage blog, John Sidesexamines the partisan consequences and...
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Ferguson’s Municipal Elections Show That Voter Turnout Matters
In the wake of higher voter turnout in Ferguson, the city council now has three Black council members, up from only one before the election. This is a welcome change. As Demos has noted, the Ferguson...
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Millennials Are More Racist Than They Think
News about race in America these days is almost universally negative. Longstanding wealth, income and employment gaps between whites and people of color are increasing, and tensions between police and...
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The rich own our democracy, new evidence suggests
Two new studies by political scientists offer compelling evidence that the rich use their wealth to control the political system and that the U.S. is a democratic republic in name only. In a study of...
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Republican policies don’t help people of color
The United States continues to struggle with persistent racial gaps. There are large gaps between blacks and whites in terms of income, political representation, treatment in the criminal justice...
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If everyone voted, progressives would win
In preparation for the 2016 presidential election, Democrats appear united around one candidate, while the Republican contest remains far from secured. Many on the left, who view Hillary Clinton’s...
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Education alone can’t solve America’s racial wealth gap
Earlier this month, the United States marked the 50th anniversary of the Selma voting rights marches. While much has changed since, racial wealth gaps have persisted over the past 30 years and even...
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Unions still matter
This year the Republican war on unions has returned with a vengeance. In former labor stronghold Illinois, GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner is pursuing right-to-work legislation — which allows workers to gain...
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Politicians respond overwhelmingly to the rich
Since the beginnings of democracy, debate has raged as to how responsive politicians are to their constituents. Though such debates stretch back centuries, only recently have academics gotten the...
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The silent political war on the middle class
Teddy Roosevelt famously argued that, when it comes to foreign policy, one should “Speak softly, and carry a big stick.” Similarly, an apt summation of the political inclinations of billionaires might...
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Why voting matters: the progressive majority that doesn’t show up
Political scientist Larry Sabato once said, “Every election is determined by the people who show up.” Though the quote is at first blush rather banal, it carries profound implications for American...
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Don’t believe the Wal-Mart hype: Here’s proof it still isn’t paying its...
This piece was co-written with Amy Traub, a senior policy analyst at Demos. Wal-Mart recently made headlines for increasing the starting salary of workers from $9 to $10 an hour, which would boost the...
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