#generational-politics

#generational-politics

President Donald Trump wants to keep home prices high, bypassing calls to ramp up construction so people can afford what has been a ticket to the middle class.Trump has instead argued for protecting existing owners who have watched the values of their homes climb. It's a position that flies in the face of what many economists, the real estate industry, local officials and apartment dwellers say is needed to fix a big chunk of America's affordability problem.

"I don't want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes, and they can be assured that's what's going to happen," Trump told his Cabinet on Jan. 29.

Just under half, 45%, of U.S. adults now identify as independents, a new Gallup survey found. That's a substantial shift from 20 years ago, when closer to one-third of Americans said they didn't identify with the Democrats or Republicans. This group appears, increasingly, to be driven by their unhappiness with the party in power, according to Gallup's analysis. That's a dynamic that could be good for Democrats in this year's midterm elections, but doesn't promise lasting loyalty.

On Monday, I published an article unpacking how anti-Semitism in America is a youth movement. Surveys from nonpartisan, conservative, and liberal sources have found that far from being the benighted bigotry of the old, anti-Jewish prejudice is growing in popularity among the young, which is why it has been on the rise in American politics and culture. "The research collectively suggests that America is becoming more anti-Semitic because its young people are becoming more anti-Semitic," I wrote.