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Morris P. Fiorina is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Wendt Family Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. His current research focuses on elections and public opinion with particular attention to the quality of representation: how well the positions of elected...
Area 45: Unstable Majorities: Polarization, Party Sorting, And Political Stalemate Featuring Morris Fiorina
Will 2018 see a continuation of the third great stretch of instability in national politics?
Morris P. Fiorina examines the myth of a polarized America
Hoover senior fellow Morris Fiorina examines the myth of a polarized America with Hoover deputy director David Brady. The general public is often portrayed as bitterly divided on social, political, and economic issues, but new research shows that most Americans stand in the middle of the political landscape, preferring centrist candidates and holding moderate positions on charged cultural issues. It is the political parties and the media that have ignored this fact and distorted public perceptions.
The Not So Big Conservative Base
Stanford’s Morris Fiorina, one of America’s leading political scientists, has published a new book titled, Disconnect: The Breakdown of Representation in American Politics. . . .
Unstable Majorities
Democratic and Republican lawmakers are farther removed from each other than ever—but they’re also farther removed from the views of most ordinary voters. Hoover fellow Morris P. Fiorina explores this hollow political center.
Brady, Fiorina, and Frisby on American politics and the 2012 election
“Nearly everything you read about [political] polarization . . . is wrong, or at least incomplete or misinterpreted,” remarked Hoover senior fellow Morris Fiorina. Fiorina, along with David Brady, deputy director and Davies Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and Tammy Frisby, research fellow at the Hoover Institution, 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.
Are We Headed For A Second Civil War?
A cliché is haunting America — the cliché of a second civil war.
Area 45: The Divided States Of America
The 2016 Election: Partisan or Cultural Divide?
Democracy's demolition derby
It's been an education, my four decades in Washington journalism: an anniversary that prompts this personal reflection. . . .
FF Symposium: Where’s the Vital Center?
The term the “vital center” was coined of course by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. 60 years ago. . . .
The Left’s Purity Test?
Erick Erickson poses a direct question to me at RedState.com this morning. . . .
Polarized Pols Versus Moderate Voters?
A scholar disputes the notion that the American electorate is deeply polarized. . . .
The GOP's Best Weapon in 2010
Inclement political weather rocked President Obama and his party this summer...
Why Washington Can’t Get Much Done
Members of Congress — with the possible exceptions of Senator Robert C. Byrd and Representative John D. Dingell — come and go...
Waiting For The Political Center To Coalesce
I recall long ago reading Louis Hartz’s classic 1955 work “The Liberal Tradition in America,” which argued that the United States has been blessed with a relatively consensus-based political culture grounded in the liberal democratic principles embodied in the U.S. Constitution, emphasizing limited government, majoritarianism and the rule of law.
What Does History Tell Us About 2018?
The lesson of 2018 is that the political class is addicted to drawing lessons. Every two years, after the ballots are counted and the winners declared, our reporters, pundits, officials, activists, and analysts turn immediately to the next election. What do these results portend? Will Trump be reelected? Will the suburbs stay Democratic?
‘Why We’re Polarized,’ By Ezra Klein: An Excerpt
The first thing I need to do is convince you something has changed. American politics offers the comforting illusion of stability. The Democratic and Republican Parties have dominated elections since 1864, grappling for power and popularity the whole time.
The Majority-Minority Myth
Identity politics, which supposedly boost the Democrats’ electoral chances, aren’t the sure bet they might appear. Why? Because Americans’ identities are steadily blending into each other.
What Does History Tell Us About 2018?
Fight Club
While the political parties duke it out over divisive social issues, the majority of Americans remain steadfastly in the middle. . . .