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POLITICS
How Mitch McConnell Accidentally Created An Unregulated THC Market
Sen. Mitch McConnell didn’t know what he was doing when he passed the 2018 Farm Bill. The bill included his provision that legalized industrial hemp, a form of cannabis that can be made into a wide variety of products including…
How Close Is Virginia’s Governors Race?
Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup. Election Day 2021 is only about two weeks away, and the big race to watch is undoubtedly Virginia’s gubernatorial contest. A still-somewhat purple state with a Democratic…
The Fight Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates Is Coming To Kids Next
It took a small town chiropractor named Charles Brown to help vaccinate millions of kids for decades to come — all because he didn’t want to vaccinate his own. It was 1979 in Houston, Mississippi, and Brown needed to enroll his…
Why Abortion May Now Motivate Democrats More Than Republicans
Abortion has long motivated Republicans as a political issue. But following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in early September not to block Texas’s new law banning most abortions once an ultrasound can detect cardiac activity,…
It Looks Like House Democrats Are Worried About The 2022 Midterms
The number of U.S. representatives not seeking reelection is now up to 19. Since our last update, GOP Rep. Anthony Gonzalez bowed out in the face of a Republican revolt in his district over his vote to impeach former President…
Why Has Biden’s Approval Rating Gotten So Low So Quickly?
Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited. sarah (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): President Biden’s approval ratings are underwater — 49.2 percent disapprove of the job he…
Kyrsten Sinema Is Confounding Her Own Party. But … Why?
Most Democrats in Congress are united around the Democratic agenda, but a small number of senators and representatives have so far been able to hold up its passage. “I need 50 votes in the Senate. I have 48,” President Biden said…
Americans Want The Government To Act On Climate Change. What’s The Hold-Up?
Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup. As President Biden and other Democrats work to pass an omnibus budget bill, members of the party are at odds over the topline spending number, with figures ranging between…
The Debt Ceiling Is Dangerous. Here’s Why It Probably Isn’t Going Anywhere.
All-out partisan conflict has jammed the gears in the U.S. Senate in recent years, causing a virtual standstill. We’ve seen the Republican Party block a presidential nominee to the Supreme Court without a hearing or vote. We’ve seen…
Murders Spiked In 2020. How Will That Change The Politics of Crime?
Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited. sarah (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): New data released by the FBI last week showed a spike in homicides in 2020, while major…