Donald Trump

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy recently conducted a national poll about Americans’ opinions on topics including higher education, the state of the economy under President Donald Trump’s administration and immigration, among other key issues. The results reveal interesting nuances in public sentiment, as well as divisions among those Republican voters who identify as part of the Make America Great Again movement and those who identify more with the traditional Republican Party. Read More

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy has asked Republicans in a quarterly national poll since June 16, 2023, if they consider themselves supporters of the Make America Great Again or MAGA movement. In that first poll, 37 percent of respondents identified more with the MAGA movement than with the traditional GOP. Now, the share of MAGA identifiers within the GOP has swelled to 52 percent—a majority—for the first time in the poll.  Read More

According to this poll, only 10 percent of Americans don’t believe our democracy is in danger, and slightly over 50 percent think it is “under attack.” The rest of the country felt our system was being “tested.” When asked, instead, about “personal freedom,” a similar pattern emerged. In short, there is widespread concern about the state of democracy and personal freedom—themes that have certainly played out on the campaign trail for Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.   Read More

With the first presidential debate of 2024 quickly approaching, the American public is expressing widespread concern about the state of democracy and our Constitution. There is also consensus among Americans that free speech is fundamental to democratic governance, according to the most recent Vanderbilt Unity Poll measuring Americans' views of unity and beliefs on government and democracy.  Read More

The Choice, produced by the Dialogue Vanderbilt, is a four-part podcast focused on the key moments and ramifications of the 2024 presidential election between former president Donald J. Trump and current President Joseph R. Biden. Vanderbilt’s Jon Meacham and John Geer will blend history and political science to offer insights and context about this rematch of the 2020 presidential contest. Read More

Americans saw an uptick in unity for the first time in over a year, with widespread agreement that the U.S. political system needs to be more responsive and an overall distrust of social media influencers, according to the most recent Vanderbilt Unity Poll measuring Americans' views of national unity and the democratic process. Read More

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy’s latest Vanderbilt Unity Index shows the country continuing its trend toward more polarization, ending 2023 down nearly three points from the start of the year. Read More

Americans overwhelmingly feel that their political systems do not represent them, including compromise on abortion, and they are not confident the American political system accurately reflects their will, according to the latest quarterly Vanderbilt Unity Poll measuring Americans’ unity and beliefs on government and democracy. Read More

President Donald Trump has nominated Jon Parrish Peede, BS’91, to serve as the 11th chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Read More

On Feb. 6, Pulitzer Prize winner Jon Meacham, a No. 1 New York Times best-selling presidential biographer and visiting Vanderbilt distinguished professor of political science, sat down with Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos to discuss Donald Trump’s first year in office. Read More

Faculty experts from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of education and human development share their perspectives on education policy as the 100th day of the Trump Administration draws near.  … Read More

Special guest lecture by Albert Bender, attorney of Indian law and Standing Rock activist in North Dakota. Albert Bender stood on the front lines of the #NoDAPL protest at its very beginnings and has lent his expertise to a variety of news outlets on this important issue. He will give… Read More

The temptation to quickly arrange a summit between President-elect Trump and Vladimir Putin of Russian should be avoided, says Tom Schwartz of Vanderbilt. Read More

Vanderbilt professors John Geer, Efrén Pérez and Tracy Sharpley-Whiting discuss the 2016 presidential election. Read More

Professor of Political Science John Geer, a leading expert on presidential elections, takes a look at the volatile second presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. Read More

To say that this has been a crazy year in politics is a laugh-out-loud understatement. We turn to the experts in Vanderbilt’s renowned political science department for insight not only into the 2016 presidential race, but also into the future of U.S. politics itself. Read More

Vanderbilt University's Jonathan Metzl, a mental health and mass shootings expert, and Liz Zechmeister, who studies perceptions of political leaders after terrorism, shed light on the Orlando mass shooting. Read More

Many of Donald Trump’s supporters share a view of the world as a chaotic, threatening place that is changing too rapidly, says a political scientist at Vanderbilt University, and this authoritarian outlook may be what’s drawing them to the strong rhetoric of Trump. Read More