With so much of this year’s campaign focusing on taxes and tax policy, it might seem unlikely that prospective voters could still be swayed by learning a basic fact about the U.S. tax system. However, last week’s YouGov survey found that 44% don’t know it—and that they are 6 points ...

Under the budget proposed by Paul Ryan, federal spending on everything other than Medicare and Social Security would decline over the next 20 years … (a) from 22% of GDP to 18.5% of GDP (b) from 22% of GDP to 14.5% of GDP (c) from 14.5% of GDP to 11.5% ...

Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate puts fiscal policy—government spending, taxes, and debt—squarely in the center of this year’s presidential campaign. The latest YouGov survey suggests that expectations about future budget deficits under President Obama or President Romney were having a major impact on prospective voters’ ...

The practice of judicial review has been enshrined in the American political system since 1803, when the Supreme Court in the landmark case Marbury v. Madison successfully asserted its authority to judge the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress. Nevertheless, the American public is surprisingly ambivalent about the principle of ...

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinions,” Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, “but not to his own facts.” Unfortunately, a decade of political science has demonstrated that, when it comes to politics, the line between facts and opinions is often blurred and occasionally obliterated. The current election season provides some ...

Next month, Congress will once again face the question of how to extend a temporary payroll tax cut that has been in effect for the past year. Republicans tried their best to duck that debate—and with good reason. As long as the issue is framed in terms ...

Americans like the idea of reducing government spending but mostly oppose cuts in specific programs. A new YouGov survey suggests that anti-deficit rhetoric may do little to bolster public support for budget-cutting.

When is a winning issue a losing issue? When the subject is taxing affluent Americans.