Two 19th-century elections are a reminder that a sizable midterm shift, like the one expected in November, can signal long-lasting changes in American politics that set the country in a new direction.
Articles on US politics
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Ideas from QAnon’s conspiracy theory have appeared on government social media sites during Trump’s second term and continue to divide America amid social and economic crises.
To manipulate voter perception, political action committees are adopting names that signal the opposite political goals from what those groups intend. And research shows the strategy is working.
Conspiracy theories don’t just explain events – they identify villains, and Fauci is among the most popular.
More Americans now hold absolutist positions, supporting legal access to abortion in all or most cases and opposing government regulation altogether.
While discord exists over the meaning of the 250th anniversary, Americans strongly believe there is more that unites the country than divides it.
Young poets wrestled with loneliness, fractured families, violence and other challenges – but also showed an unwillingness to surrender to despair.
Democrats tend to give less than Republicans when it comes to earmarked funding for universities – but they give more to minority-serving institutions.
Some states are trying to challenge a long-held precedent that undocumented children are allowed to attend public school free of charge.
With spectacle, personality clashes and corruption increasingly defining American politics, it was only a matter of time before TMZ would set its sights on the Beltway.
Most Trump supporters remain in his camp, but some independents, young people and Black Americans who voted for the president in 2024 would not do so again in an election do-over.
Democracy cannot thrive, or even survive, when its leaders see themselves as godlike and divide citizens into believers and heretics, a scholar writes.
It’s not unusual for presidents to select attorneys general who share their views and policy preferences. But Trump has gone far beyond what is usually done.
The electoral system used by many global democracies eliminates gerrymandering and has been shown to give more equal representation to minorities and women.
Partisan debates are less heated at the local level, providing lessons that might help calm the waters nationally.
State resistance to federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota illustrates how federalism keeps authority divided and disputed.
Americans have looked to the Declaration of Independence when they sought to remedy contemporary problems and create new visions for the country’s future.
President Donald Trump and his supporters cast their domestic opponents as disloyal, traitorous or worse, rather than seeing dissent as part of democracy.
Culture wars once arose from impromptu events that struck a nerve among Americans, but they are now started by partisan agitators who introduce them to politicians and watch them take hold.
As support for secessionist movements increases, it’s vital that political leaders reduce the divisions that threaten to tear the US apart.
Top contributors
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Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne
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Lecturer in American Politics, University College Cork
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Professor of International Politics, Clinton Institute, University College Dublin
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Dennis Altman is a Friend of The Conversation.
Vice Chancellor's Fellow and Professorial Fellow, Institute for Human Security and Social Change, La Trobe University
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Assistant Professor, Miller Center, University of Virginia, and US Studies Centre, University of Sydney
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Associate Professor in American Politics and Foreign Policy, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney
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Professor of American Studies, University College Dublin
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Adjunct Senior Fellow, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University
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Associate Professor in American and International Politics, University of Birmingham
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Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Nottingham Trent University
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Professor in U.S. Politics and U.S. Foreign Relations, United States Studies Centre,, University of Sydney
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Professor of Management, University of Essex
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Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor, Department of Government, University of Essex
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Lead Academic Teacher - Politics & Social Science (Swinburne Online), Swinburne University of Technology
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Associate Professor of Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin