Recent News

Perry’s Exit May Have an Impact on the Race

The news at the end of last week that former Texas Gov. Rick Perry was suspending his campaign for the GOP nomination and exiting the race took few by surprise, as numerous stories in recent weeks had reported on his campaign’s lack of funds and poor showing in the polls. The New York Times this morning has an interesting story detailing polling data that show Perry lost more than half of his support to businessman Donald Trump when the latter ... Read More >>

A lot of the support for Donald Trump is fueled by outrage against the Republican establishment. But those who ask us to understand this anger—as if it were a totally new phenomenon that none of us had ever noticed before—are ignoring the fact that Trump divides the right just as much as the establishment does.

Can Ben Carson Step Out of Trump’s Shadow?

Both are first-time candidates who currently top the polls in the Republican presidential primary. Many voters praise them in the same breath as “outsiders.” But Ben Carson is no Donald Trump.

Candidates for their party’s nomination in 2016 began the process with certain assumptions and strategies, all hoping their plans would work well enough to eventually put them in the White House. As the summer campaign season draws to a close, however, it’s become clear for some that earlier assumptions were wrong, strategic decisions didn’t pan out the way it was hoped, and some serious changes may be in order.

Several stories this morning highlight some of these strategic errors and shifts, ... Read More >>

Scott Walker, the one-time Republican front-runner in Iowa, has taken a precipitous fall in a new poll of those likely to vote in the first presidential nomination contest on Feb. 1.

Carson relying on small donors for funds

Ben Carson’s presidential campaign says it raised $3.5 million in grassroots donations in just the first week of September, more than half of what it says it raised for the entire month of August.

What explains Ben Carson? The long tradition of black conservatism

According to recent polls, Ben Carson has surged in popularity among likely Republican voters and now finds himself at the top of the GOP presidential primary pack. A recent poll of Iowa Republicans, for example, found Carson tied with Donald Trump for first place. That an African American that has never held political office is now a front-runner in the Republican primaries has surprised many observers.