All posts tagged: Democratic opponent

The Other Time America Panicked Over a President’s Age

The Other Time America Panicked Over a President’s Age

How old is too old? This isn’t the first time the question has dominated a presidential race. For a brief moment, 40 years ago, the country could talk of nothing else. I should know: I was one of the reasons. One spring day in 1984, I was chatting with Burns “Bud” Roper, the veteran pollster. At the time, I was The Wall Street Journal’s White House correspondent, covering Ronald Reagan’s reelection campaign. Thanks to a surging economy, Reagan seemed poised for an easy victory in November. The campaign was shaping up to be a bore. “Bud,” I asked, “is there any chance he could lose?” When it came to polling, Bud had seen it all, going back to Harry Truman versus Thomas Dewey. He told me he hadn’t found anything that could stop Reagan. Then he paused. “Actually, there is one thing,” he added. “People won’t say it if you ask them directly, but when you look deeply at the numbers, a lot of them are concerned about his age.” Reagan was 73 at the …

How to Have a Healthy Argument

How to Have a Healthy Argument

I’ve heard of three Thanksgiving plans that got canceled because of disagreements over the Israel-Gaza War. In one case, over the past few weeks, a guy watched as his brother’s wife posted pictures of cease-fire rallies on Facebook. Finally he texted her: “So you love Hamas now?” She was horrified. After doing Thanksgiving together for two decades, they will not be continuing the tradition this year. I could give you more examples of unproductive fights that ended plans, friendships, relationships, but we’ve all been there. In this week’s episode of Radio Atlantic, we focus less on the substance of any of those disagreements. Instead, we talk about how to disagree, on things big (a war) or small (how to load the dishwasher). Our guest is Amanda Ripley, the author of High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out, and her suggestions work equally well in the personal or political arena. We also talk with Utah Governor Spencer Cox about his Disagree Better initiative. In 2020 Cox ran an unusual political ad in …

The Abortion Backlash Reaches Ohio

The Abortion Backlash Reaches Ohio

Officially, abortion had nothing to do with the constitutional amendment that Ohio voters rejected today. The word appeared nowhere on the ballot, and no abortion laws will change as a result of the outcome. Practically and politically, however, the defeat of the ballot initiative known as Issue 1 was all about abortion, giving reproductive-rights advocates the latest in a series of victories in the year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Fearing the passage of an abortion-rights amendment in November, Republicans in Ohio asked voters to approve a proposal that would raise the threshold for enacting a change to the state constitution, which currently requires a simple majority vote. The measure on the ballot today would have lifted the threshold to 60 percent. Ohio voters, turning out in unusually large numbers for a summertime special election, declined. Their decision was a rare victory for Democrats in a state that Republicans have dominated, and it suggests that abortion remains a strong motivator for voters heading into next year’s presidential election. The Ohio results could …