Opinion Today

July 5, 2022

Confidence in U.S. Institutions Down; Average at New Low
Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup
Americans are less confident in major U.S. institutions than they were a year ago, with significant declines for 11 of the 16 institutions tested and no improvements for any.

Times Opinion focus group: Is Liz Cheney Politically Brave? Joe Manchin? Mike Pence? 10 Voters Debate Courage.
Patrick Healy & Adrian J. Rivera, New York Times
In our latest Times Opinion focus group, a mix of 10 Democrats, independents and Republicans said they were hungry for leadership. They admired people they saw as patriots, like Ms. Cheney, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and, in some cases, President Biden for making the hard call to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan. We wanted to understand how Americans saw political bravery and courage — and who they saw displaying it — in an era when political posturing, attacks and stunts are so much more common.

Trust in Supreme Court falters after Roe decision
Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Patrick Marley & Matthew Brown, Washington Post
For abortion rights supporters, the sudden striking down of what was long considered settled law is the latest evidence of a broken democratic system

One in five adult members of Gen Z self-identifies as LGBTQ
Dante Chinni, NBC News
Last week’s Dobbs decision from the Supreme Court, which overturned Roe v. Wade, also contained some news about same-sex marriage. In his majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote about his desire to reconsider other precedents from the high court including 2015’s Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized marriage between people of the same sex. But reversing that decision would not be easy and the landscape around the issue has shifted sharply in the last decade.

America is leading the world backward
Elizabeth Shackelford & Dina Smeltz (Chicago Council on Global Affairs), Chicago Tribune [via opiniontoday.com]
If President Joe Biden hoped to reassure friends and allies that America was ready to lead the charge as a champion of human rights and democracy, the U.S. Supreme Court had other ideas. A series of radical rulings makes America’s exhortations about promoting democracy ring hollow.

Spurred by the Supreme Court, a Nation Divides Along a Red-Blue Axis
Jonathan Weisman, New York Times [via opiniontoday.com]
Pressed by Supreme Court decisions diminishing rights that liberals hold dear and expanding those cherished by conservatives, the United States appears to be drifting apart into separate nations, with diametrically opposed social, environmental and health policies.

McConnell wants to win the suburbs by defusing cultural hot buttons. Trump and his own party have other ideas.
Sahil Kapur & Allan Smith, NBC News
The Senate minority leader's new dealmaking posture, a shift from his Obama-era stance, marks a bid to soften the GOP's image with swing voters ahead of the midterm elections.

Why Republicans should be nervous about their candidates for governor
Dan Balz, Washington Post [via opiniontoday.com]
Roughly half a dozen states — not surprisingly, they are the states that decided the 2020 presidential election and are likely to decide the 2024 race, as well — have competitive contests for governor. Republicans’ hopes of expanding their hold on state government will hinge on the outcomes. But the GOP’s chances will be affected by the quality of its candidates — and right now, that’s a potential problem.

How Rules Fuel Populist Anger in Rural America
Farah Stockman, New York Times
One Democrat attempts to flip the script by speaking out against government red tape.

Some activists lean on ‘motherhood’ for authority in gun law debates
Kaylin Bourdon (UC Irvine), Monkey Cage
But they can come to opposite conclusions about whether mothers want more gun regulation — or more guns.

‘A recipe for a lot of suffering’: How abortion bans may strain the red states
Ronald Brownstein, CNN
The central paradox of the abortion debate is that the red states racing to outlaw or severely limit the procedure may be the places least prepared to deal with the practical consequences of the new restrictions. And that, experts project, could mean significantly more infant and maternal deaths and childhood poverty in states that, as a group, already rank at the bottom on those critical outcomes for kids and families.

It’s Time to Declare Independence from America’s Two Political Parties
John Halpin, The Liberal Patriot
The parties insist everyone must toe the line and hold the same ideological views. If the parties won’t change, then voters in the middle should just reject them.

Why the triumph of Republican true believers means the outcome in Florida may be too hard to call
Kevin Fahey (U. of Nottingham), LSE USAPP
In recent years Florida has voted reliably for Republican candidates at both the national and statewide level, with the 2022 midterm results looking likely to continue that trend until recently. New political events including the conflict between Governor Ron DeSantis and the Disney corporation, the US Supreme Court’s overturning of the right to an abortion, and revelations from the January 6th Commission mean that GOP electoral victories in Florida this November may no longer be a certainty.

Can Americans pass a civics test for U.S. naturalization?
Taylor Orth, YouGov
According to the government, 91% of applicants pass the civics portion of the naturalization test. But how would Americans fare on this test without advanced preparation?

Jeff Sharlet on the 'undertow' pulling America toward conflict
Reliable Sources podcast
Author and Dartmouth professor Jeff Sharlet has been reporting on the American right from a religious studies perspective for two decades. He talks with Brian Stelter about his forthcoming book, "The Undertow: Scenes From a Slow Civil War," and the blind spots that some members of the media have.

I don't buy GOP will definitely win Senate after SCOTUS decisions: Silver
This Week, ABC News
FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver breaks down how the recent landmark Supreme Court decisions will affect the midterm elections on "This Week."