Why do so many Republicans support someone like Donald Trump? I get asked that question a lot, most recently by a couple of reporters who work here in North Dakota. They don’t understand why someone like President Donald Trump – a serial philanderer with only a rhetorical adherence to the mores of social conservative, an…
Some Democrats Relieved Heitkamp Won’t Run for Governor
Yesterday I shared polling from Governor Doug Burgum’s not-yet-officially-announced re-election campaign showing the incumbent with a commanding lead in a hypothetical match-up with former Senator Heidi Heitkamp. Reacting to that poll later in the day, Heitkamp said that particular competition would remain strictly hypothetical. Heitkamp tells Bismarck Tribune she's not running for governor next year…
Plain Talk: North Dakota’s New ACLU Leader Says He’d Like to Find Common Ground With Conservatives, Burgum Pollster Talks 2020 Race
Can the ACLU, widely perceived as a left-wing organization, find common ground with conservatives in North Dakota? The new leader of the organization in the state, Dane DeKrey, says he’d like to try. Also Chip Englander, pollster for Governor Doug Burgum’s campaign, talks about the 2020 race. Use the links below to subscribe to the…
Burgum Polls Himself Against Heidi Heitkamp Ahead of 2020 Campaign
Governor Doug Burgum’s re-election campaign has been polling, and gave me exclusive access to the results. You can read their full polling memo below. There are a couple of things about this poll which are just as interesting as the actual numbers. First, there has been some whispers in state political circles that Burgum might…
How Can Democrats Reach Out to Rural Voters When They Hate What We Do for a Living?
Last month at one of the debates held for the crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates, supposedly moderate front runner Joe Biden said there would be no place in his administration for oil and coal. Biden on whether or not there would be a place for fossil fuels including coal and fracking in his administration:…
Poll: Governor Doug Burgum Enjoys 60 Percent Favorable Rating, Has Support of a Plurality of Democrats
In polling from DFM Research (which I’ve written about earlier this week with regard to the Teddy Roosevelt library project and President Donald Trump), North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum has a 60 percent approval rating. That’s about what you’d expect from a Republican governor in a Republican state, and it’s line with the numbers for…
Poll: Trump Leads Biden Among North Dakotans in Head-to-Head Matchup, Has 56 Percent Favorable Rating
The current polling has former Vice President Joe Biden leading a crowded field of Democratic candidates in the 2020 White House race on the national level, but here in North Dakota the front runner is a country mile behind incumbent President Donald Trump. That’s according to a May poll from DFM Research (which was also…
Print Column: The Dumbest Thing Democrats Could Do Is Listen to Heidi Heitkamp
MINOT, N.D. — For some reason Heidi Heitkamp — despite just one, flukey electoral victory to her name in the last two decades — has been anointed an expert in certain Democratic circles on how to appeal to rural voters. Recently, the erstwhile senator delivered a luncheon speech to a convention of Montana Democrats, and…
Ballot Measure Legalizing Recreational Marijuana in State Constitution Submitted to Secretary of State
Back in May a ballot measure, proposing an amendment to the state constitution legalizing recreational marijuana, was submitted to the Secretary of State’s office for approval to circulate. It was then withdrawn with the organizers saying they needed to fix the language. Which was a good thing because language looked like it was something slapped…
The Bernie Sanders Plan to Eliminate Student Debt Is Hardly a Free Lunch
There’s no such thing as a free lunch. It’s an undeniable truth. Somebody always has to pay. The Bernie Sanders plan for eliminating the roughly $1.6 trillion in student loan debt some 45 million Americans are carrying is no exception to the rule. “At a Capitol Hill news conference, Sanders unveiled the plan to eliminate…