As a long-time political science professor, the thing that worries me most about the modern Republican Party is its growing aversion to objective knowledge. Today, within the GOP there seems to be open hostility towards intellectuals and intellectual pursuits, including education, science, and the use of objective research to create public policy. This skepticism towards intellectualism seems to stem from a mistrust of experts and institutions like universities, the media, an

Organized labor saw deep declines in membership and popularity starting in the late 1970s and continuing into the 1980s, 90s and early 2000s caused by the offshoring of manufacturing jobs, automation, and changes in labor laws that favored management. At the peak of the union movement in the 1950s, more than a third of American workers belonged to one, but by 2020 only about 6% of workers in the private sector held a union card. However, this year may mark the beginning of a

This is now Donald Trump's Supreme Court and Americans understand that it has a specific and very conservative ideological agenda. And, the vast majority of Americans don't seem to like it very much. A new Marquette Law School Poll found that approval of the U.S. Supreme Court has fallen to 38%, while 61% disapprove of how the Court is doing its job. By contrast, less than two years ago, in September of 2020, approval of the Court stood at 66% with 33% disapproval. The Marque

Despite the pounding she took from Ted Cruz and several other right-wing Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is the most popular Supreme Court nominee since John Roberts in 2005. CNN: “According to an average of polls by Gallup, Fox, Monmouth University, Quinnipiac University and the Pew Research Center, about 53% of Americans supported her [Jackson's] confirmation, with about 26% of Americans opposed. This is good for a +27-point net po

NBC News just completed polling to determine who has been vaccinated in America and it sheds quite a bit of light on the anti-vax problem in the country. Overall, 69% of Americans have received the shots so far, but that is still far short of the 85% that many scientists now say we will need to dramatically reduce transmissions in the population. Most Americans who have been following the science regarding Covid are dumbfounded by the anti-vax nonsense being peddled on social

Virginia will elect a new Governor this year and the state may provide an early indication of Donald Trump's hold on the GOP. A new poll released this week by Christopher Newport University found that a Trump acolyte, State Sen. Amanda Chase, leads in the race for the Republican nomination for Virginia's highest office. Many Virginians remain undecided, but Chase leads with 17% while 10% back former Virginia House Speaker Kirk Cox and 6% support businessman Pete Snyder. Wealt