President News & Analysis

Why the 2024 Presidential Race Will Start Later Than Expected

by Nathan L. Gonzales October 8, 2021 · 9:00 AM EDT

While campaigns are starting earlier and earlier, and there certainly isn’t an “off year” from elections anymore, the 2024 presidential race is primed to get off to a late start.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have the ability to freeze the presidential field of other official contenders…

The One Thing Biden Can’t Afford to Lose

by Nathan L. Gonzales September 17, 2021 · 11:48 AM EDT

The next presidential election is more than three years away, and even the midterms won’t happen for another 14 months. Yet President Joe Biden could be on the brink of losing something costly: the benefit of the doubt. 

While I’m on the record as skeptical that Afghanistan will be…

RIP, Rally ’Round the Flag

by Nathan L. Gonzales September 9, 2021 · 8:45 AM EDT

Less than 12 hours after Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, close to 150 members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, stood together on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to sing “God Bless America.” Unfortunately, that act of bipartisanship…

How Afghanistan Will (and Won’t) Matter in 2022 Midterms

by Nathan L. Gonzales September 2, 2021 · 12:00 PM EDT

No, the 2022 midterm elections will not be about Afghanistan, but that doesn’t mean the situation won’t matter. 

While Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump contributed to the military morass, and there was close to bipartisan consensus that leaving Afghanistan was the right thing to do, there…

While You Were Underground: A Political Update for Cicadas

by Nathan L. Gonzales June 17, 2021 · 9:26 AM EDT

After living underground for 17 years, cicadas must find the political world a confusing place. So if you see any perplexed cicadas flying around the Washington area, wondering how things changed since the spring of 2004, just send them a link to this quick update. 

Considering Republicans were in control…

Biden’s Job Rating and the 2022 Midterm Elections

by Ryan Matsumoto June 4, 2021 · 2:29 PM EDT

Joe Biden has only been president for a few months, but pundits and prognosticators alike are already looking at what the tea leaves may suggest about the 2022 midterm elections. Democrats currently maintain the slimmest of majorities; House Republicans need to gain just five seats to flip the chamber. Historically,…

Could Supreme Court Supercharge Midterms With Abortion Ruling?

by Nathan L. Gonzales June 3, 2021 · 8:58 AM EDT

If redistricting hadn’t complicated the midterm elections enough, a Supreme Court decision on one of the country’s most polarizing issues has the potential to supercharge the fight for the House and Senate.

Last month, the Supreme Court announced it would hear a challenge to a new Mississippi law —…

Election Predictions Look Different (and Better) Now that All the Races are Over

by Nathan L. Gonzales January 22, 2021 · 9:09 AM EST

More than two months later, the 2020 elections are still handing out lessons. The latest: Don’t judge election projections until all the results have hatched.

Lost in the aftermath of the siege on the U.S. Capitol was the fact that Democrats won two Senate runoffs in Georgia. Not only does…

Lessons and Challenges: Assessing the Performance of Polls in the 2020 Election

by Bradley Wascher December 18, 2020 · 2:28 PM EST

In the six weeks since November 3rd, much has been said about the performance of election polling. Were the polls good enough, or were they catastrophically wrong? The answer of course depends on whom you ask, but one thing is clear: pollsters could have done better. 

To be fair, the…

How Biden Rebuilt the Blue Wall

by Ryan Matsumoto December 3, 2020 · 2:28 PM EST

In 2016, Donald Trump shocked the world by flipping three “Blue Wall” states that had voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1988: Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Although Barack Obama carried these states by comfortable margins in 2008 and 2012, Trump narrowly carried each of them by less than 1…