Recent polling shows a widening gap between corporate media narratives and American voters' opinions, especially on immigration enforcement and its political ramifications.
— In our first handicapping of state legislature control for the 2026 cycle, we find 15 chambers that are competitive—either Leans Republican, Toss-up, or Leans Democratic. That’s slightly higher than the number we found at a similar point in the 2022 and 2024 election cycles.
— At this point in the 2026 cycle, the Republicans are playing defense in more chambers than the Democrats are. The GOP currently holds 8 of the competitive chambers, while the Democrats hold 4 of them. Meanwhile, both Alaska chambers are controlled by a cross-partisan alliance that is favored to continue, and Minnesota’s House chamber should revert to being tied once vacancies are filled by special elections later this month.
— Among the chambers we rate as competitive, 9 are Toss-ups. This category includes 6 Republican-held chambers (the Arizona Senate, the Arizona House, the Michigan House, the New Hampshire House, the Wisconsin Senate, and the Wisconsin House) and 2 Democratic-held chambers (the Michigan Senate and the Minnesota Senate), as well as the aforementioned, tied Minnesota House.
— In many states, Democrats are looking forward to a favorable cycle, driven by a reaction to President Donald Trump and his policies. However, in some states, voters may be tired of Democratic governance at the state level, creating cross-cutting pressures.
— In a number of legislative chambers controlled by Republicans, Democrats are hoping to ride a blue wave and break GOP supermajorities.
Did you know that in most of America, police can take your property, even if you did nothing wrong?
California Democrats should listen to The Rolling Stones.
Americans today are justifiably angry about the price of rents and mortgages. Home prices have roughly tripled over the last 25 years, and the median home price is now $415,000.
Minnesota? Somalis? Nine billion dollars in alleged welfare fraud?
"Replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism!" says my new socialist mayor.
Here's a recent story from the Chicago Tribune that jumped off the page when I read it. Northwestern University is finishing up the construction of a new $800 million football stadium. This is supposedly a nonprofit "educational" entity.
— The price of a gallon of gasoline in President Trump’s first year in office has been relatively low, with gas recently dipping under $3 a gallon on average for the first time in half a decade, when the pandemic was having a major effect on the economy and society at large.
— That said, Trump’s overall approval rating remains underwater, and it is weaker now than it was a few months ago. Trump’s approval numbers on the economy and inflation—the latter of which would seem to be most connected to the price of gasoline—are weaker than his overall approval.
— There is some connection, historically, between gas prices and presidential approval, but that connection has been weaker lately.
Many popular movies make a constructive point: If you work hard enough and push through tough times, you can achieve your dreams.
The Trump administration took a well-deserved victory lap last week for repealing more than 100 Biden-era rules for every new regulation. This will save U.S. businesses potentially hundreds of billions of dollars of unnecessary costs. Gone are discriminatory racial preferences, Green New Deal mandates and electric vehicle mandates -- to name a few.
Tim Walz is going away, but the Democratic Party's Tim Walz crisis isn't.
As news reports proliferate of multimillion-dollar -- and possibly billion-dollar -- fraudulent diversions of government funds involving Minnesota's Somali immigrant community, it may be time at one year's end and the next one's beginning to take a longer look at America's experience with immigration, and to seek the guidance of the first and one of its two greatest presidents.
While campaigning, President Donald Trump said, "We're a nation in decline."
A recent Rasmussen Reports national survey shows that Christmas has once again regained its status as America’s most important holiday, with 55% of American adults saying it’s among the nation’s top celebrations and another 30% placing it “somewhere in between.”
Well, Donald Trump has done it again!
At Harvard University today, professors who teach Western history are history.
People criticize capitalism. A recent Axios-Generation poll says, "College students prefer socialism to capitalism."
I've been shocked that Americans are in such a grumpy mood as reflected in all the public opinion polls.
With America's 250th birthday as an independent nation coming up in 2026, the big debate on the right this season about what it means to be an American couldn't be more timely.
