The George H.W. Bush Presidential Library, College Station, Texas (Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com).Democracy in America: The Electoral College versus Third Party Candidates
Ross Perot speaks at a petition drive in Orange County, California in 1992 (Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock.com).Trump’s Electorate: Old or New?
A lot of the discussion of President Trump’s election interprets his election as reflecting a significant change in the American electorate. I don’t think so. We see precursors of the Trump coalition in Ross Perot’s presidential bid, and Pat Buchanan’s, and even Ronald Reagan’s. Nativists have been a crucial, if variable, part of the Republican coalition since before the Civil War. And support for protective tariffs were a common feature of Republican platforms through at least World War II.
