Milestone day in voter registration in #ncpol yesterday. What does it mean? See this open.substack.com/pub/chriscoo... Which leans heavily on this theassemblync.com/politics/dem... With a sprinkle of this uncpress.org/978146968171... x-posted on this www.oldnorthstatepolitics.com/2026/01/ther...

“In North Carolina, unaffiliated voters now outnumber both parties and currently tilt Democratic for 2026, as Roy Cooper’s strength and Trump fatigue give Democrats a tentative edge with crucial swing voters.” #ncpol www.wilsontimes.com/columns/how-...

“Rodríguez … has been described by former colleagues and U.S. officials as a ruthlessly ambitious and Machiavellian political operative.” www.wsj.com/world/americ...

The cynics think today's attack on Venezuela is staged and transactional. Maduro is allied with Putin, but in 2019 Putin offered Trump a swap: Russia cedes Venezuela and gets Ukraine. (See Fiona Hill's testimony in Trump's first impeachment trial, h/t @davetroy.com). Even Maduro may be in on it. 2/

Jan 3 poll of 2,092 U.S. adults (+/-2.7 points) % who support | oppose the U.S. using military force to overthrow Maduro and bring him and his wife to the U.S. to face trial U.S. adults 36% | 39% Democrats 14% | 63% Independents 27% | 44% Republicans 66% | 13% today.yougov.com/topics/inter...

Trump just announces the US will be running Venezuela now, until the can do a "safe, proper, and judicious" transfer of power. Announcing an occupation before you've occupied a country is a new one.

We are now “running” Venezuela

Notre Dame Law Professor Mary Ellen O’Connell on CNN re: the strikes. “There has been a detention, a kidnapping, and a removal of [Maduro] unlawfully. [While Maduro was abusive], there is no reason to double down on the lawlessness… the U.S. should be demonstrating how to comply with the law.”

[wakes up] “I’m sorry, what”

In our recent October poll, 2% of Americans said their primary source of news was CBS. They disapprove of Trump by a net 20 points. I doubt a campaign against elites and academia — left-coded groups, in the Trumpian formulation — is going to help ratings www.gelliottmorris.com/p/what-your-...

Which factors do Americans think college students should prioritize when selecting a major? (@today.yougov.com) More, via Opinion Today: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/251231

Fascinating paper by Hood, McKee & Pittman demonstrating that election deniers were less likely to vote in the 2021 Georgia Senate runoff election. If fewer GA Republicans believed the big lie, both GA Senate seats might still be in Republican control. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Via @wsoctv.bsky.social: www.wsoctv.com/news/local/f...

Woah

“Nothing will bring the Republic to its knees so quickly as a bone-deep mistrust of the government by its own people. We have seen other democracies fall within our own lifetime. Fall through internal corruption rather than outside invasion.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/u...

NEW: How many books did you read this year? If it was more than 2, congrats: you read more than the median American. Read on for way more @today.yougov.com polling from me on America's book-reading habits in 2025. 1/

In reviewing the 2025 Catawba-YouGov surveys, a subtle, but significant, shift seems to have occurred late last year in #ncpol. This analysis at the Center's Substack: open.substack.com/pub/ncpoliti...

Ok. Let’s do this.

This game

Smith says Trump "without question" added to the danger to Mike Pence's life with his 2:24pm tweet while the Capitol was under attack.

BREAKING: The House Judiciary Committee has released Jack Smith's 255-page deposition transcript: judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-su...

oh guys maybe you should read a tragically obscure dissertation from (checks notes) 12 years ago?

“this wantonly destructive man has mimicked the strategies of such greats as Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. In doing so, he will, unlike them, leave the nation worse off than it was when he took office.” Why Does Trump Get Away With It? www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/o...

Whose Responsible for Higher Prices? Plurality Blame Trump & GOP, per Catawba College-YouGov National Survey More than four out of ten Americans say Trump & Republicans are responsible for higher prices, with another 23 percent saying "the Government/Politicians" open.substack.com/pub/ncpoliti...

blue books build character

The Department of Justice is a serious institution full of committed public servants who have left literally millions on the table to try to do good. And now another Trump troll is shitposting in their name. Who can trust in the independence and integrity of prosecutions under these circumstances?

Wallet woes bridge partisan divide. #econsky

New national Catawba-YouGov survey finds affordability pressures widespread and cut across party lines www.salisburypost.com/2025/12/24/n...

Today in life under competitive authoritarianism Textbook stuff every day

We sent out the last e-mail newsletter from the Center about the 2025 year in review & the last Catawba-YouGov National Survey on affordability--read it at: myemail.constantcontact.com/Cheers-to-a-... And you can also subscribe at the same link.

We released the last @catawbacollege.bsky.social & @today.yougov.com survey of 2025, this time a national poll of 2,000 Americans on several aspects regarding affordability. Check out the findings at our Substack: ncpoliticscenter.substack.com/p/affordabil...

Some thoughts on the passing of one of the titans of #ncpol open.substack.com/pub/ncpoliti...

Wake Forest Political Scientist Jack Fleer conducted a series of interviews with Governor Hunt in 2001 which are all free to read or listen to through the SOHP. Part 1. May, 2001: dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compound... Part 2. July, 2001 dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compound... (2/4)

"As much pain and suffering and expenses this is going to cost you, it's also a great example of how every vote counts," NC elections board chairman Francis de Luca said. "Every vote matters." www.wunc.org/politics/202... #ncpol

There's an internal poll making the rounds in #ncpol about the Berger/Page primary I am required by the laws of pedantic political science to re-post this @oldnorthstpolitics.bsky.social blog from 2022 highlighting the problems of internal polls www.oldnorthstatepolitics.com/2022/03/plea...

Just sent this to a reporter. It’s a real shame.

President Donald Trump is coming to NC’s redrawn 1st district this week #ncpol www.newsobserver.com/news/politic...

Quick update on #ncpol candidate filing. open.substack.com/pub/chriscoo...

A new PNAS paper finds that polarization increased immediately after the invention of smartphones and the advent of social media, which both appeared around the same year, 2008. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

One of the most blatantly authoritarian threats in a Trump term full of them

Dilemma of the day: Begin grading the exams that came in first? Or start with the last ones handed in and work backwards?

I've been through the desert on a

In a 60 minutes interview, MTG says she's America First not MAGA In a 2024 article, McKee, Huffmon, Knotts & I examined the factions within Republicanism & find that MAGA hold distinct opinions from America 1st--particularly on Trump & election denial journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... #polisky

District Court: The Court has considered an entire record of evidence and renders a conclusion based on that rigorous examination of facts. Supreme Court: But you didn’t theoretically presume good faith!

Alito: "First, the dissent does not dispute—because it is indisputable—that the impetus for the adoption of the Texas map (like the map subsequently adopted in California) was partisan advantage pure and simple.” www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

Breaking: Supreme Court on 6-3 Party Line Vote, Allows Texas to Use Its Re-redistricting Maps for 2026 Congressional Elections electionlawblog.org?p=153359

(NBC News) - The Justice Department on Thursday failed to secure an indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News. www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

"Federal authorities had charged Cuellar ... and his wife with accepting thousands of dollars in exchange for ... advancing the interests of an Azerbaijan-controlled energy company and a bank in Mexico. Cuellar is accused of agreeing to influence legislation favorable to Azerbaijan...."