skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Trump announces sweeping new tariffs to promote US manufacturing, risking inflation and trade wars; Arizonans experience some of the highest insurance premiums; U.S. immigration policy leaves trans migrants at TX-Mexico border in limbo; Repealing clean energy tax credits could raise American energy costs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

President Donald Trump announces worldwide tariffs. Democrats decry 'Liberation Day' as the economy adjusts to the news. And some Republicans break from Trump's trade stance.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural schools face budget woes even as White House aims to dismantle the Department of Education, postal carriers argue against proposed USPS changes, fiber networks to improve rural internet may be supplanted by Musk's satellites, and PLAY BALL!

Study: 40% of voters willing to cross party lines on local issues

play audio
Play

Monday, September 9, 2024   

A common narrative suggests that deeply polarized American voters always support their party's candidates, but a new study suggests otherwise in certain circumstances.

Researchers from Sacramento State and San Diego State universities asked more than 900 partisan voters about housing and homelessness - then asked them to choose, in a hypothetical local election - between a candidate from their party who disagreed with their views, or one from the opposite party who is aligned with them on policy.

Sacramento State Associate Professor of Political Science Danielle Martin co-authored the study.

"Overall, voters do support candidates from their own party - even when an opposite party candidate was closer to their views on one of those salient local issues," said Martin. "But we also found that about 40% defected from their party."

The study found that people with weak party loyalty were more likely to defect, as were people who are very invested in their policy position.

They also point out that in national and state-level races, people are much less likely to split their votes between parties.

Study co-author Professor of Public Policy and Administration Ted Lascher, also from Sacramento State, said the data show that voters are more flexible when an issue hits close to home.

"One of the implications is that somebody who's running, who's the out party, in terms of local party identification, may be able to win elections in city council and mayoral races," said Lascher, "if they choose the issue very carefully. Because voters will sometimes cross party lines on particular local issues."

San Diego State University Political Science Professor Brian Adams said this means that even though Democrats enjoy broad support in California, that support is more conditional than absolute in local races.

"A lot of this research suggests that if Republicans put forward candidates that actually agreed with some of the policy positions that Democratic voters have," said Adams, "at least some Democratic voters would be willing to switch."

About 96% of electoral contests in the U.S. are at the local level - for races such as the school board, the city council, and the county board of supervisors.

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The Little Village Environmental Justice Organization has become as much as a landmark to the community as the Little Village Arch and was awarded the national Food Sovereignty Prize in 2024. (City of Chicago 2021)

Environment

play sound

By Angela Burke for Civil Eats.Broadcast version by Judith Ruiz-Branch for Illinois News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Pub…


Social Issues

play sound

A bill in the Maryland General Assembly would regulate cryptocurrency kiosks, the more than 700 ATM-like machines for virtual currencies around the …

Social Issues

play sound

Registration is open for the next information session for the Doswell School of Aeronautical Sciences at Texas Woman's University in Denton, where …


Some two million gray wolves roamed North America in the early 1800s but today, fewer than 7,000 remain on just 10% of their historic range in the Lower 48 States. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., has introduced a bill to remove gray wolves from the list of endangered and threatened species under the Endangered …

Social Issues

play sound

The Trump administration announces its new wave of tariffs Wednesday, and with U.S. Department of Agriculture funding still a question mark, …

Integrated health care programs mix traditional medicine with humanities, IT and business skills to create more well-rounded health care professionals. (Adobe Stock)

play sound

Educators at Iowa State University are creating a new major to meet what they see as a new and growing demand in the health care field: pairing medica…

Environment

play sound

Large, energy-intense buildings used in Bitcoin mining, cloud computing and artificial intelligence data processing industries could become more …

Social Issues

play sound

Indiana lawmakers are considering a statewide ban on marijuana advertising after a House committee approved an amendment Monday. Rep. Jim Pressel…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021