Opinion Today
December 31, 2024
Americans Predict Challenges in 2025, With a Few Bright Spots Megan Brenan, Gallup Americans foresee a somewhat challenging year ahead for the country, based on their predictions for various aspects of U.S. affairs and daily life. Majorities of U.S. adults think 2025 will be a year of political conflict, economic difficulty, international discord, increasing power for China and Russia, and a rising federal budget deficit.
Republicans are expecting 2025 will result in an improvement in their own lives and for the country AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research Most adults plan to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Nearly 6 in 10 adults anticipate making a New Year’s resolution, with health the most popular goal.
Going out for New Year’s? Most people say they’ve got better plans, according to an AP-NORC poll Mark Kennedy and Linley Sanders, Associated Press If you’re planning on ringing in the new year quietly at home, you’re not alone. A majority of U.S adults intend to celebrate New Year’s Eve at home, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Most Americans blame insurance profits and denials alongside the killer in UHC CEO death, poll finds Associated Press Most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials share responsibility for the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO — although not as much as the person who pulled the trigger, according to a new poll. In the survey from NORC at the University of Chicago, about 8 in 10 U.S. adults said the person who committed the killing has “a great deal” or “a moderate amount” of responsibility for the Dec. 4 shooting of Brian Thompson.
Jimmy Carter Retrospective Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup Averaged 45.5% job approval as president • Initial high ratings descended amid poor economy, international crises • Frequently ranked high on Most Admired Man list
These 10 Charts Will Help You Understand 2024 Steven Rattner, New York Times [unlocked] I dove into the data and found 10 charts that I believe best illustrate this year’s biggest developments. They help us understand what happened — and provide a glimpse of where we may be going. Self-selection and the FIRE national survey of university faculty Rajiv Sethi, Imperfect Information The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has released the results of a national survey of university faculty that deals with freedom of expression on campus. There’s plenty of interesting material in the report, but it needs to be interpreted with some care. How Top Pollsters Grade 2024’s Polls Kaleigh Rogers, New York Times [unlocked] Despite a pretty accurate year, the pre-election polls once again underestimated support for Donald Trump. Does that make it a successful polling cycle, or not? America now has more Republicans than Democrats Patrick Ruffini, The Intersection The end of an almost-century long era The MAGA Honeymoon Is Over Ali Breland, The Atlantic [unlocked] Silicon Valley and the nativist right worked together to elect Trump. Now the infighting has begun. Musk: “F*CK YOURSELF in the face,” MAGA Harry Litman, Talking Feds Substack Reflections on the MAGA-Musk Feud Trump backs H-1B visas, aligning with Musk on immigration Will Oremus, Washington Post [unlocked] “I’ve always liked the visas,” he said, siding with tech leaders against anti-immigration hard-liners. How Trump’s strategy echoes Jim Crow-era tactics Desh Girod (Georgetown), Good Authority What W.E.B. Du Bois and “Wages of Whiteness” can teach us about the 2024 election.
Out: Trump’s campaign promises. In: War with Panama and Denmark? Dana Milbank, Washington Post [unlocked] Trump’s smokescreen of chaos seems designed to mask his backtracking. Why it's so hard to have schadenfreude for Trump voters Hayes Brown, MSNBC There's little comfort to be had in knowing the hammer of the president-elect's worst policies will also fall on some of his supporters. The opposition to Trump isn’t inert. It’s reflecting — and that’s good. E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post The only way to make 2025 a better year is to learn from what went wrong in 2024. The Rise of the Union Right Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic [unlocked] Democrats need some kitchen-table policies. Quick. Brian Schatz to Democrats: Please, Stop With ‘Center’ and ‘Making Space’ Jonathan Martin, Politico Magazine As the Hawaii senator charts his path up the Senate hierarchy, he reflects on his party’s major challenges. ‘You don’t get red-pilled overnight’: California’s political players explain what happened in 2024 Melanie Mason, Politico The steep drop in turnout compared to 2020 is “in and of itself, a political statement,” said one analyst. In 2024, Latinos finally became Americans at the ballot box Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times [via Yahoo] Latinos forsook movement politics in this election and seem poised to do the same in the future. We're now in a political Bizarro World where the GOP thinks Latinos are a winnable group while Dems no longer see us as automatic salvation. Both parties will fight for our votes by de-emphasizing appeals to ethnicity and instead focusing on meat-and-potatoes issues — you know, the way they usually do with "regular" voters. The 2028 Democratic primary is already underway. But the first real moves are just around the corner. Politico Our reporters look ahead to the 2028 primary, and how the next year will set the stage. The next round of governor's races could bring big changes to state power Adam Edelman, NBC News Over the next two years, 38 governor's elections will be on the ballot, including in presidential battlegrounds and states with term-limited incumbents. The key state and local elections to watch in early 2025 Adam Edelman, NBC News Both parties are turning their attention to contests next year that could be the first tests of the political landscape after Trump’s victory. Biden Exits Battling for His Legacy and Believing He Could Have Won Erich Schwartzel, Emily Glazer and Annie Linskey, Wall Street Journal [unlocked] The 82-year-old president is spending his final weeks in office telling war stories—and facing criticism that he inadvertently ushered in a second Trump presidency. Jimmy Carter, Peacemaking President Amid Crises, Is Dead at 100 Peter Baker and Roy Reed, New York Times [unlocked] Jimmy Carter, who rose from Georgia farmland to become the 39th president of the United States on a promise of national healing after the wounds of Watergate and Vietnam, then lost the White House in a cauldron of economic turmoil at home and crisis in Iran, died on Sunday at his home in Plains, Ga. Jimmy Carter, 39th president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, dies at 100 Kevin Sullivan and Edward Walsh, Washington Post [unlocked] Jimmy Carter, a no-frills and steel-willed Southern governor who was elected president in 1976, was rejected by disillusioned voters after a single term and went on to an extraordinary post-presidential life that included winning the Nobel Peace Prize, died Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia. Jimmy Carter Was a Politician I Could Believe In Walter Shapiro, New Republic It’s easy to forget after so much time has passed, but his presidency began with great promise—one that still resonates today. Jimmy Carter Deserved Our Thanks and Respect, Not Our Sneers Nicholas Kristof, New York Times [unlocked] We in the media and chattering class jeered at a man who probably improved more lives over a longer period than any other recent president. Jimmy Carter’s presidency is ripe for a major reappraisal Jonathan Alter, Washington Post [unlocked] His time in office is remembered almost exclusively for events that were largely beyond his control. Jimmy Carter’s Unappreciated Legacy Stuart E. Eizenstat, Wall Street Journal [unlocked] The 39th president never stopped trying to make America, and the world, a better place. Jimmy Carter Just Got Better With Age Francis Wilkinson, Bloomberg Opinion [unlocked] Carter’s legacy goes well beyond his time in the White House. Jimmy Carter Wasn’t a Liberal Timothy Noah, Politico Magazine The late former president paved the way for Ronald Reagan. Jimmy Carter was one of the key figures in the rise of conservatism Brian Rosenwald, The World According to Brian How we should really remember our 39th president The Misunderstood Consequences of Jimmy Carter’s Presidency Gerald F. Seib, Wall Street Journal [unlocked] In showing that an outsider can win, he paved the way for Reagan and Trump From the Grave, Mondale to Eulogize the Man Who Made Him Vice President Peter Baker, New York Times [unlocked] Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale thought he would still be around to speak at the funeral for Jimmy Carter, who was a little more than three years his senior. But even though Mr. Mondale died first, in 2021, he left behind the eulogy he planned to deliver, which will be read at Mr. Carter’s memorial service at Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 9 by his son Ted Mondale. Jimmy Carter Was a Terrible President — and an Even Worse Former President Philip Klein, National Review The truth is that historians have not been harsh enough. After Jimmy Carter Won the Presidency, Democrats Lost the South Richard Fausset, New York Times [unlocked] Mr. Carter witnessed a shift from what had been a solidly Democratic South to one that Republicans, supported by white voters and particularly evangelicals, came to dominate. Kansas once required voters to prove citizenship. That didn’t work out so well John Hanna, Associated Press Kansas imposed a proof-of-citizenship requirement over a decade ago that grew into one of the biggest political fiascos in the state in recent memory. UK Mega-poll shows Labour would lose nearly 200 seats Caroline Wheeler, The Times Constituency-by-constituency analysis points to a hung parliament, with huge gains by Reform and seven cabinet members losing seats — including Angela Rayner Scientist exposes secret behind ‘blue zone’ diet myth: pension fraud Rhys Blakely, The Times A researcher wins an Ig Nobel prize for his work on record-keeping systems where people live longer than average — and says the data is flawed Dave Barry’s 2024 year in review Dave Barry, Washington Post [unlocked] Before we move on to whatever (God help us) lies ahead, let’s ingest our anti-nausea medication and take one last cringing look back at the events of 2024
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Jimmy Carter's complex legacy Consider This from NPR He will of course be remembered for his accomplishments in office. But also for all that he accomplished in the four decades after he left the White House. Host Andrew Limbong speaks about Jimmy Carter's legacy with two NPR journalists who have covered the White House for years: national political correspondent Mara Liasson and senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith.
Poll The Other One: A polling pilgrimage from the Red Wall to Waterloo, and from 2024 to 2025 Quiet Riot Attention polling geeks, politics geeks and students of the world ... what can Taylor Swift tell us about the world of politics? How about Beyoncé? And, sticking with a pop theme, how about Waterloo? Naomi Smith returns with the second part of her festive Poll The Other One special, this time with Focaldata chief research officer James Kanagasooriam who, as well as being heroically knowledgeable about all things polling, also coined the phrase Red Wall.
Kornacki is back at the Big Board with a preview of 2025's major political stories MSNBC Following a heated and historic presidential election, 2025 is shaping up to be yet another high-stakes year. MSNBC's Steve Kornacki is back at the Big Board with the preview of next year's major political stories.
Tamara Keith and Amy Walter on how Trump's 2nd term could define Biden's legacy PBS NewsHour NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Nick Schifrin to discuss the latest political news, including the passing of former President Jimmy Carter, the fate of President Biden's legacy and a look ahead at the political landscape in 2025.