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2 votes

In its interference/disinformation campaigns of the US presidential election, has the PRC/CCP shown a preference for either Trump or Harris?

No, there is no evidence of a strong preference for either candidate in recent foreign interference efforts. The objective is simply to boost partisan divisions and undermine popular legitimacy. While ...
Brian Z's user avatar
  • 18.9k
5 votes

Have past US presidential candidates sued to be removed from the ballot?

The most similar case I can think of is Ross Perot in 1992, a third-party candidate who withdrew from the race that July. During his withdrawal, there were attempts to remove him from state ballots, ...
dan04's user avatar
  • 4,889
1 vote

Why did the USA capitulate to Indian pressure to remove Dr. Mohammad Younus from the candidature of Bangladesh's premiereship?

The really short answer is that after the Bangladesh Liberation war, to repair its damaged relationship with India, the Anglosaxons (the US and the UK who had militarily threatened India to prevent ...
sfxedit's user avatar
  • 9,721
3 votes

Why is a group of North Carolina women (apparently) traveling to every Trump rally?

Well, if we're gonna have guess- or generalization-based answers, based on your quote they do fit a certain pattern: “Those most enthralled with Donald Trump were not at the very bottom — the ...
Make StackExchange GREAT 4ever's user avatar
4 votes

By whom is the Trump "Immunity case" presently stayed

The Trial Court Judge Tanya Chutkan put the stay in place, citing 11th Circuit policy. As a practical matter, there was no point in proceeding to trial until the matter of immunity was decided as ...
William Walker III's user avatar
1 vote

Why does Arkansas relatively often fail to field major party candidates for US Senate elections?

Numerous factors contribute to this, but it's not particularly out of normal range for this kind of thing, nor is Arkansas alone in seeing this, by any means. Arkansas has a lot of uncontested ...
William Walker III's user avatar
5 votes
Accepted

Why is a group of North Carolina women (apparently) traveling to every Trump rally?

There's no accounting for human behavior. Seems like a clique of super-fans that bonded. No "facts" to offer in explanation.
BobE's user avatar
  • 10.5k
2 votes

What are the common traits of US backed regime change?

The world of international politics is anarchic and teleological. When there is the potential for regime change in a given state, every powerful nation (including the US) will be thinking about its ...
Ted Wrigley's user avatar
  • 73.4k
5 votes

What are the common traits of US backed regime change?

Frame challenge: "US backed" is extremely vague, i.e. covers a large range of activities. Nowadays the US [State Department] will verbally 'back up' any regime that transitions to democracy (...
Make StackExchange GREAT 4ever's user avatar
-6 votes
Accepted

What are the common traits of US backed regime change?

If you see a concerted approval in the Anglosphere media regarding that regime change, then you may assume that US is behind it. The magnitude of US involvement in the world politics is such that it ...
alamar's user avatar
  • 17.6k
4 votes

Given Houthis' proven ability to disrupt shipping, how does the US hope to stop the PRC from doing something like that to Taiwan?

This source gives a nice analysis of what might happen if China attempted a blockade of Taiwan. A short summary is below. China could definitely do this, and it would be very painful for Taiwan. ...
Allure's user avatar
  • 36.6k
3 votes

Has the US considered or offered selling TLAMs (cruise missiles) to Taiwan?

No idea [yet] about TLAMs as such, but they seem to have received approval at least for shorter range cruise missiles (SLAM-ER) (range "in excess" of 250km), although these are "...
Make StackExchange GREAT 4ever's user avatar
1 vote

How many ballistic missiles does the PRC have 'pointed' at Taiwan, according to Western estimates?

I found the DoD's 2023 assessment of China's forces. They do assess separate forces in the "Taiwan straits area" but not for missiles. For those the DoD just gives figures for all China (p. ...
Make StackExchange GREAT 4ever's user avatar
0 votes

Given Houthis' proven ability to disrupt shipping, how does the US hope to stop the PRC from doing something like that to Taiwan?

At least a decade ago, some Western thinkers thought far more likely that the US would manage to impose a far more crippling blockade on China: By prosecuting a naval blockade, the United States ...
Make StackExchange GREAT 4ever's user avatar
2 votes

How many ballistic missiles does the PRC have 'pointed' at Taiwan, according to Western estimates?

A probable undercount from 2021 gives an order of magnitude idea: 2021 Understanding the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force Every year between 2002 and 2009, the PRC deployed approximately fifty ...
Italian Philosophers 4 Monica's user avatar
3 votes

Given Houthis' proven ability to disrupt shipping, how does the US hope to stop the PRC from doing something like that to Taiwan?

The true plans of the US (and the PRC) are of course classified. But there are studies by non-military researchers about how such a conflict might be fought. Some of the researchers are in "think ...
o.m.'s user avatar
  • 113k
26 votes
Accepted

Will the current vice president certify the election results also if running for and becoming elected president?

There have been 4 VPs that ratified their own election as President. John Adams 1796 Thomas Jefferson 1800 Martin Van Buren 1836 Bush Senior 1989 Its the basic constitutional practice the ...
SMSTJ's user avatar
  • 336
17 votes

Will the current vice president certify the election results also if running for and becoming elected president?

The answer is yes regardless who wins, see Nixon 1960 precedent: he was VP then and also the Republican POTUS candidate in that election, but he lost to Kennedy, and conceded, as well as presided over ...
Make StackExchange GREAT 4ever's user avatar
3 votes

Has the US said why electing judges is bad in Mexico but good in the US?

Looking at this statement: I believe popular direct election of judges is a major risk to the functioning of Mexico’s democracy. The ambassador applies it for Mexico, specifically, rather than ...
Joel Coehoorn's user avatar
1 vote

Has the US said why electing judges is bad in Mexico but good in the US?

The generic concerns with electing a judge versus appointing a judge typically revolve around impartial application of the law. If a judge is elected to a set term, with multiple terms possible, they ...
GOATNine's user avatar
  • 969
3 votes

What explanations can be offered for the extreme see-sawing in Montana's senate race polling?

Margin of Error When you take their margins of error into account, what every one of these polls show is that the candidates are in a virtual dead heat. This was actually one of the reasons that 538 ...
RBarryYoung's user avatar
13 votes

Has the US said why electing judges is bad in Mexico but good in the US?

Well, the US State Department was willing to host a seminar [ostensibly to inform the foreign press] about the US judges elections [at state level] in which the main speaker put up a slide (around ...
Make StackExchange GREAT 4ever's user avatar
36 votes

Has the US said why electing judges is bad in Mexico but good in the US?

It is not clear that the premise of the question is strictly correct. The ambassador, and indeed the Biden administration, may well be opposed to the election of judges in the United States as well. ...
Obie 2.0's user avatar
  • 16.8k
1 vote

Historical U.S. political party "realignments"?

Wikipedia's article on the US political parties has a fairly good section on history and the changing party systems. I don't see a need to add to that or to the other answers here. However, I will ...
Ted Wrigley's user avatar
  • 73.4k
1 vote

Do either Biden or Harris currently support a public option for Obamacare?

Question: Do either Biden or Harris currently supports a public option for Obamacare? Short answer, no. The affordable care act as passed was modest reform. Even this however consumed 5-6 years of ...
JMS's user avatar
  • 5,240
14 votes

Historical U.S. political party "realignments"?

I would wager that Kennedy was trying to refer to the "Party Systems" that are used by political scientists & historians in order to describe the regional party alignments in various ...
Michael Seifert's user avatar
18 votes
Accepted

What explanations can be offered for the extreme see-sawing in Montana's senate race polling?

Pollster Quality A major premise of 538 is that all polls are not equally informative. Different polling organizations use different methodologies, and that creates biases within the polls. So just ...
codeMonkey's user avatar
  • 2,472
8 votes

What explanations can be offered for the extreme see-sawing in Montana's senate race polling?

Polls funded by Republican organizations tend to be biased toward Republican candidates, while polls funded by Democratic organizations tend to be biased toward Democratic candidates. If one ignores ...
David Hammen's user avatar
  • 13.2k
1 vote

If the US wishes for de-escalation, why doesn't it provide Israel with only defensive weapons?

Let's just look at the list cited in the Q: "good" weapons aid to Ukraine was largely antiaircraft / antitank weapons, "bad" weapons 50 F-15 fighter jets, Advanced Medium Range ...
Italian Philosophers 4 Monica's user avatar
37 votes

Historical U.S. political party "realignments"?

Theoretical Context Duverger's law states that subject to certain conditions, a political system with single member district plurality vote candidate elections naturally tends towards having two, ...
ohwilleke's user avatar
  • 85.3k
4 votes

If the US wishes for de-escalation, why doesn't it provide Israel with only defensive weapons?

Because the best defense is a good offense. Think for a second if Ukraine had the ATACMS etc. to hit the Russian concentrations as they were massing across the border in 2022. Or even as they were ...
Make StackExchange GREAT 4ever's user avatar
6 votes

Was the timing of the armed response to defend the Capitol within the requirements specified in security protocols?

Yes, even by post-Jan6 standards. As of 2022, the standard for response to this kind of call without prior planning or alert (which was explicitly not provided, per the Secretary of Defense), is 20% ...
William Walker III's user avatar
3 votes

Do swing states in the US count their votes faster due to external pressure?

Not in any kind of reliable way. State governments are left to their own devices to determine how to conduct their elections. This means that the policies that govern those processes are subject to ...
William Walker III's user avatar
2 votes
Accepted

Must name on absentee ballot match registration?

No, within reason. Because absentee ballot/ballot requests include mailing/return address and other information, because Vermont requires that all registered voters on the checklist have a single ...
William Walker III's user avatar
2 votes

Griswold v. Connecticut and the selling of contraceptives

Q: But was the selling of contraceptives legal? No. Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) At issue in Griswold v. Connecticut was the Comstock law from Connecticut passed in 1879 that prohibited the sale ...
Rick Smith's user avatar
  • 36.1k
12 votes
Accepted

Did polls adjust their methodology after overestimating Democrat's shares in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections in the Rust Belt?

Apparently some pollsters are trying to compensate: In its post-2020 report, AAPOR cited nonresponse bias as one of the potential reasons for the cycle's larger polling error, possibly because ...
Make StackExchange GREAT 4ever's user avatar
1 vote

Why does the USMC perform duties which are in the remit of the Army?

The original mandate of the US Marine Corps was to secure and defend ships at sea and remote outposts that (at that time) could only be reached by sea: foreign ports, embassies, etc. During the ...
Ted Wrigley's user avatar
  • 73.4k
4 votes

Why does the USMC perform duties which are in the remit of the Army?

In every other country, marines are subordinate to the navy and are used mostly in operations which fall under the remit of the term Contra to what you assert about "every other country", ...
Make StackExchange GREAT 4ever's user avatar
1 vote

How predictable are the voting records of members of the US legislative branch?

First of all, states? Why states? States can consist of congressional districts full of voters with wildly different voter demographics which want entirely different policies to be passed. So in the ...
wonderbear's user avatar
  • 1,923
18 votes
Accepted

How predictable are the voting records of members of the US legislative branch?

I wonder if representatives of the same party, the same state, and the same electoral cycle vote the same, regardless of any other factor, regardless of which chamber he belongs to. Short Answer This ...
ohwilleke's user avatar
  • 85.3k
4 votes

How predictable are the voting records of members of the US legislative branch?

As you might expect in today's highly polarised Congress, most Congresspeople vote the party line, but it isn't difficult to find examples of two congresspeople with the same state and party with very ...
James K's user avatar
  • 124k
5 votes
Accepted

Why did American Airlines suspend all flights to Israel until April 2025?

IDK much about the latest extension, but back in 2023, it seems it was due to pressure from their union, the APA, which put out a statement that flying into a war zone is inadvisable, after Netanyahu ...
Make StackExchange GREAT 4ever's user avatar
9 votes
Accepted

Does the US Congress have to authorize non-combat deployments (e.g. of advisers and trainers) from the US armed forces to a foreign country?

Whether or not it fit the spirit and intent of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, the US executive branch seems have managed sending combat forces, not trainers, just fine, to Lybia in 2011 without ...
Italian Philosophers 4 Monica's user avatar
11 votes

Are the US or its European allies offering Iran anything in return for de-escalation?

The US at least is publicly announcing deploying a missile sub to the area. Tomahawk missile strikes are a favored US tool in these instances. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the ...
Italian Philosophers 4 Monica's user avatar
12 votes

Are the US or its European allies offering Iran anything in return for de-escalation?

Last time Iran retaliated with a missile & drone barrage (in April) Biden put some extra sanctions on it. And the EU followed suit. (I can't say if they make much diff as Iran is already under a ...
Make StackExchange GREAT 4ever's user avatar
2 votes

How do the RealClearPolitics polling averages work?

RCP reportedly has a self-declared focus on simplicity and verifiability of their results, rather than rigor or accuracy per se. The source for this is old (2008) and from the pen of a direct ...
William Walker III's user avatar
1 vote

Can a state appoint Presidential electors from out-of-state to get around the difficulty of Presidents and VP's being from the same state?

I have to say, that absolutely will not work. The rule is that an elector cannot vote for a ticket where both members are inhabitants of the same state that the elector represents. That is the “...
Michael Lorton's user avatar
0 votes

How does the US benefit from waging wars?

So, it can be concluded that the Afghan war was a loss project for the USA. I think Afghanistan, like Vietnam, is regarded as having been a folly for the US. There's no evidence that the outcome was ...
Steve's user avatar
  • 7,397
-1 votes

Doesn't the running a presidential campaign distract an incumbent POTUS from the job?

First, yes, there is a slowdown during electoral cycles. It is common to see news coverage with statements like: "if this bill doesn't pass now, it is unlikely to happen soon due to the coming ...
Italian Philosophers 4 Monica's user avatar
2 votes

How do sitting politicians do their job and also campaign?

In what sense it is not the job of the politician to communicate with their electorate and maintain the relationship through political campaigning? The question you're posing is akin to asking how a ...
Steve's user avatar
  • 7,397

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