Oct 28 Patchwork Nation: Mapping Voter Anger, Foreclosure Rates By District If much of the electorate is driven by anger, much of that anger is driven by foreclosures. As Patchwork Nation has measured the number of tea party "meetups" in the last four months, one type of congressional… Continue reading
Oct 25 New Diversity Districts Appear Safe for Democrats, at Least for Now By Victoria Edwards Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., speaks during a DNC news conference in July; Photo By Tom Williams/Roll Call via Getty Images If Democrats are looking for safety this year, they have it in the New Diversity districts that dot… Continue reading
Oct 21 Jobs, Conservative Roots Pose Hurdles for Democrats in Small Town America _pap_embeddable('news01s4499qf90',482,304,{ pap_usecache:true }); Ohio's 16th District all begins with Canton. The former manufacturing hub in the northeasternpart of the state has simultaneously shrunk in population and yet grown in the ranks of Ohio cities - climbing… Continue reading
Oct 18 Has the Tea Party’s Influence Slowed? In an election year where voter anger has been the topic on everyone's minds, the loose confederation of groups and interests known as the Tea Party movement has been a star attraction for political analysts. Hailed by some as… Continue reading
Oct 15 Exurb Districts Pose Threat to Recently Elected Dems Freshman Democrat Debbie Halvorson will have to balance the diverse needs of a sprawling district in northern Illinois if she hopes to hold off Republican opponent Adam Kinzinger in an area historically considered a swing district with Republican leanings. But… Continue reading
Oct 11 What Voters Talk About When They Talk About the Economy As Patchwork Nation often notes, the diversity of communities in the United States makes it difficult to identify a single economic story. National GDP and unemployment numbers are not encouraging, but no one in American experiences those U.S. averages… Continue reading
Oct 04 How Republicans, Democrats Could Prevail in ‘Shifting Middle’ Districts If the Republican Party is going to recapture in November the 39 seats its needs to control the House, it is going to have to do exactly what the Democrats did in 2006 and 2008. Its candidates are going… Continue reading
Oct 01 Heartland Palpitations: Democrats Find Little Comfort in Small Town America By Lee Banville One trend that is becoming clearer as the midterms approach is that Democrats are struggling to hold on in the heartland. These big-in-size, small-in-population districts throughout the Midwest, known in our Patchwork Nation project as Small Town… Continue reading
Sep 27 What Will Motivate Christian Conservative Voters This Year? Updated: 5:04pm ET There is little doubt that the economy is the biggest driver of voter sentiment in 2010. Poll after poll shows economic anxieties are a serious concern for Americans. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the economy… Continue reading
Sep 24 How Active Are Tea Partiers in Your Congressional District? The tea party movement may be a national story -- particularly after the victory of Christine O'Donnell in Delaware's Senate primary on Sept. 14 -- but the group's sway is much more localized. Some congressional districts are hot spots,… Continue reading