Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Today in Bloomberg Opinion: Most Voters Are Partisans, But Independents Were Decisive in 2022

Sifting through the evidence from the 2022 election reveals that Democrats' better-than-expected performance didn't reflect a turnout advantage over Republicans, but instead resulted from a historically unusual success among independent voters. Although it's fashionable to view the American public as divided into two implacable partisan sides, the remaining slice of persuadable voters can easily prove decisive in a highly competitive electoral environment, as I discuss further in today's piece for Bloomberg Opinion.

Sunday, December 11, 2022

Today in Blooomberg Opinion: Let's Stop Messing with the Voting Rules

 Georgia's Senate runoff was resolved much earlier this year than it was last time, when it wasn't held until January. But this change reflected how often the rules that govern our elections are changed and changed again as the party in charge seeks a crude strategic advantage. And in this case, it didn't even gain that advantage—the Georgia Republicans who moved up the runoff date to cut down on early voting lost on Tuesday, just as they did in the 2021 runoff. In my latest piece for Bloomberg Opinion, I pine for the day when both parties accept a stable set of rules and focus on the much nobler task of persuading and mobilizing voters.

Saturday, December 03, 2022

Today in Bloomberg Opinion: Voter Turnout Was High Again in 2022

Voter turnout in the 2018 midterms reached 50 percent of eligible citizens, a modern record. This year, it stayed nearly as high (47 percent), indicating that the voter surge last time was more than simply a "Trump effect." I consider what the rise in turnout says about today's American politics in my latest piece for Bloomberg Opinion