Nearly everything you read about [political] polarization...is wrong, or at least incomplete or misinterpreted," remarks Hoover Senior Fellow Morris Fiorina. Fiorina and two of his Hoover colleagues, David Brady and Tammy Frisby, sat down the day after the Florida primary to talk about American politics and the 2012 election. Stepping back from the blow-by-blow coverage of the presidential campaigns, Brady, Fiorina, and Frisby discuss how underlying conditions and both continuity and change in American politics are shaping the Republican primary, the prospects for the November 2012 general election, and races for seats in the 113th Congress.
This is part 1 of 3, discussing the 2012 Republican primary. Part 2 covers the general election, and part 3 looks at House and Senate races.
In part 1 shown here, Brady, Fiorina, and Frisby discuss the question dominating this Republican primary season: Why haven't the Republicans coalesced around a single candidate yet? The scholars also consider whether Newt Gingrich can force a replay of the see-saw nomination battle waged by Reagan and Ford in 1976. And what role does Ron Paul play in this election?
(photo credit: shplendid)
