Outside the Beltway

The politics of gun control is not nearly as easy as its supporters believe it to be.

There’s a very simple reason why gun control is stalling in Congress despite its popularity in the polls.

One in eight Americans support drone strikes against Americans on American soil.

A positive political climate for immigration reform.

Based on the polls, the odds of some changes to America’s gun control laws will become law. It’s unlikely they’ll accomplish anything, though.

The GOP’s image problems continue

Conor Friedersdorf contends “The U.S. Already Had a Conversation About Guns—and the Pro Side Won.”

If you’re a Member of Congress, the odds are pretty good that you’re going to stay one.

It’s okay to criticize military veterans–even if you never served in the military.

Republican opposition to same-sex marriage is costing it yet another demographic group.

Believing the maker/taker dichotomy.

There are some expected and unexpected results in Nate Silver’s review of pollster accuracy in 2012.

Wherein I get a bit petty (but to make a point and, maybe just because it amuses me).

If you’re a white Southerner who gets most of his information from Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, you probably don’t know a lot of people who voted for Barack Obama.

In a posting for New Atlanticist titled “Status Quo Election,” I note the near total absence of foreign affairs from a presidential campaign that’s mercifully coming to an end.

If we elected presidents by a national telephone survey using Gallup’s likely voter screen, Mitt Romney would be a happy man.

Too many people ignore (and incorrectly define) the “independents” in a given sample.

With sixteen days to go, the race for President is tied.

National numbers can overstate regional preferences.

Some interesting movement in early post-debate polling.

For all the hype, it’s unlikely that tonight’s debate will have the same impact as the October 3rd Debate.

Once again, it seems necessary to debunk some commonly believed myths about polling.

Romney’s post-debate surge is being picked up in swing state polls, but will it be enough?

America’s Protestants are dying off and being replaced by non-believers.

The Pew poll is no longer an outlier but the start of a trend.

Mitt Romney has gotten a bump in the polls from Wednesday debate, but it’s still too early to say if it means anything.

While the conspiracy theory is nuts, there are legitimate reasons to be skeptical of some elements of September’s Jobs Report.

There is nothing wrong with healthy skepticism (which is different than outright denialism).

The biggest surprise of the Presidential race to date is the fact that Mitt Romney has lost the edge he once had on economic issues.