#partisan-polarization

#partisan-polarization

Louisiana voters cast ballots on Saturday, Senator Bill Cassidy's political demise could be hastened by a decision his fellow Republicans made two years ago: getting rid of an open, nonpartisan primary in favor of a closed system in which Republicans and Democrats compete separately. That nonpartisan primary was adopted, in part, to empower politicians like Mr. Cassidy who have been willing to cross party leaders and reach across the aisle.

The intrigue: While Democrats' ratings of most agencies have weakened, Republicans' have mostly improved, echoing partisan shifts seen during President Trump's first term and early in former President Biden's presidency. Republicans and Republican-leaning voters now give the Department of Defense (74%) and Homeland Security (73%) strong approval ratings, likely reflecting the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration and crime. Yes, but: Homeland Security is the only department Republicans rated more positively compared to the Trump administration in 2019.

A number of those same Democrats took to the House floor to smear Charlie Kirk's name. The man wasn't even buried yet and Democrat members of Congress were denigrating his memory on the floor of the House of Representatives. This was truly a sad moment and a clear reflection of how radical the Democrat party has become. Many Democrats in elective office have been totally captured by a radical fringe of the far left base who want to dehumanize with every person they disagree with.

The findings are remarkably consistent with past polling on the Republican president in the nation's most populous blue state, said Mark DiCamillo, director of the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies Poll. "If you look at all the job ratings we've done about President Trump - and this carries back all the way through his first term - voters have pretty much maintained the same posture," DiCamillo said. "Voters know who he is."