A compendium of solid reporting and commentary surrounding the pivotal 2024 elections in the United States. You won't find horse race coverage here, or the standard "both sides" (even when one is lying) BS that passes so often for political journalism. What you will find are links – with brief quotes from the coverage and short commentary from me – to work that I believe advances the conversation we should be having about America's, and the world's, future. Remember: Everything is at stake this year. (Unfortunately, some of the work I point to is behind paywalls.)
While the number of voters who were at least somewhat enthusiastic about the Trump versus Biden rematch had been increasing throughout the year, it never topped 50%. Now that the contest is Trump versus Harris, voter enthusiasm has risen to 68%. The biggest jump has been among Democrats (from 46% in June to 85% now), but there has also been a notable increase in enthusiasm among independents (from 34% to 53%). Among Republicans, enthusiasm for the Trump-Harris contest (71%) is identical to what it was for the Trump-Biden rematch in June (71%).
I don't point to horse-race polls in this newsletter. They aren't meaningless, but they tend to steal attention from things that matter – like, you know, the possibility that we'll have a dictatorship next year. The "enthusiasm" poll I'm highlighting here is meaningful, however, and in a big way. It's a snapshot of how people are feeling about participating in this year's elections. Democracy is entirely about participation, starting with voting. It's possible, maybe likely, that these numbers won't hold at their current high levels. But this is a genuinely important development, and the numbers are positive not just for Harris, but for coming out of this fraught year with our democracy still working. (Note: when I see important survey research, I'll point directly to it rather than the shallow news coverage most surveys generate.)
The language describing an embryo or fetus as an “unborn human being” will go in a pamphlet that gives voters information on candidates and ballot measures to help inform their choices. The secretary of state’s office, which determines what gets printed on the ballot itself, said “unborn human being” would not appear there.
Shades of Alabama, where the right-wing state Supreme Court decided – with religious fervor in the ruling – that frozen embryos are human beings. Arizona's top court, itself pretty far to the crazy right, isn't going as far as Alabama. But it is doing its best to persuade voters not to amend the state constitution to protect abortion rights, as they'll have a chance to do this fall, and overrule the state's super-restrictive state abortion law. The politicized language came from a Republican-controlled "legislative council" that determines the advisory language. But the secretary of state's office decides what's on the ballot, and the "unborn human being" wording won't be there. This minor tempest goes to show the lengths Republicans will go to use deceitful propaganda to get their way on abortion.
Three in four reproductive age women in the United States think abortion should be legal in most or all cases (74%). The majority support a nationwide right to abortion (70%), oppose a nationwide abortion ban at 15 weeks (64%), and oppose leaving it up to the states to determine the legality of abortion (74%). This is the case for the majority of women who are Democrats and independents as well as smaller but still substantial shares of Republicans.
Wow, I'm pointing to another poll today! This new survey helps explain why the right-wing zealots who control the Republican Party are so intent on finding ways to ban abortion entirely, nationwide and in the individual states. They know their position is deeply opposed by a majority of women. It's another example of what's at stake in the fall elections.
The humble school meal is having a moment. With the nomination of Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, as Kamala Harris’s running mate, many voters and pundits are suddenly talking about school meals. And that’s good, because the stakes are high for the national school lunch and school breakfast programs since the campaigns and their parties have very different records and plans.
The photo accompanying this commentary is becoming famous, for good reason, and it highlights much more than a good deed by Minnesota's governor and legislature. (The state's lawmakers earned equal credit – contrary to the widespread, and wrong, implication that Walz gave his state's schoolkids taxpayer-funded meals all by himself). In survey after survey, Americans say they like most of the liberal Democratic agena. They loathe Republicans' plans, including the retrograde plans in the Project 2025 roadmap for dictatorship, to whack at pretty much all government social spending. Nutritious food makes kids better students, and we all should recognize that it's our responsibility – as voters, taxpayers, and residents of a rich nation – to provide it. This is a slam-dunk issue for Democrats.
The real danger in Trump’s words is not any actual loss of education funding — that threat is toothless, experts say — but the continued normalizing of anti-vaccine attitudes. People are already losing trust in vaccines: Only 40 percent of Americans believe it is extremely important for parents to get their children vaccinated, down from 64 percent in 2001. It is perhaps the most worrying trend in public health right now.
Poisoning the public against vaccines – one of the most important contributions to public health – is evil in epic ways. Trump and an appreciable cadre within the political party he controls are doing their best to stir up the anti-vaccine mob, for no reason other than to win a few more votes. The cynicism is breathtaking. But the consequences are potentially catastrophic if what used to be common, and sometimes deadly, childhood diseases return in force to our society. For Trump and his acolytes to be pushing the anti-vaccine lies is the height of scumbaggery.
Voting is just part of democracy, but it's the essential place to start. Make sure you're registered. Doublecheck in the fall, well before Election Day, because in some states Republican officials are removing people, mostly those who tend to vote for Democrats, from voting rolls.
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SEJAL GOVINDARAO
Marcus Weaver-Hightower
Dylan Scott
