Chris Meckstroth
@chrismeckstroth.bsky.social
Assoc. Professor of History, University of Cambridge. Writer on the history of democracy. Hailing from Normal, Illinois
Not sure about Andy Burnham, yet, but should be clear to anyone in Labour that afraid of voters is not a good look. I’d be curious to see him run a campaign with national issues and see if he’s gotten any better since losing leadership to Corbyn in 2015.
January 24, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Not sure about Andy Burnham, yet, but should be clear to anyone in Labour that afraid of voters is not a good look. I’d be curious to see him run a campaign with national issues and see if he’s gotten any better since losing leadership to Corbyn in 2015.
Don’t so often agree w/Kuenssberg but have been saying this for a while. Same thing in France, Sweden, elsewhere. Young giving up on traditional parties in which they feel they have no voice. Same reason rural and post-industrial voters bailing too. Expand the coalition, people!
Young people are getting a 'raw deal', and that's good news for the Greens and Reform
Frustration among voters under 30 is widespread, writes Laura Kuenssberg.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 7, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Don’t so often agree w/Kuenssberg but have been saying this for a while. Same thing in France, Sweden, elsewhere. Young giving up on traditional parties in which they feel they have no voice. Same reason rural and post-industrial voters bailing too. Expand the coalition, people!
Sigh. Not great if 3% say better off and still nearly 50% say unfair. So you lose on self-interest and on principle too. YouGov notes elsewhere only Truss mini budget had higher ‘unfair’ score since they started polling. almost as if govt doesn’t have a vision or message for most voters?
Britons react to the 2025 Budget
Fair: 21%
Unfair: 48%
Affordable: 22%
Unaffordable: 47%
Will leave country...
Better off: 9%
Worse off: 47%
No diff: 31%
Will leave self and family...
Better off: 3%
Worse off: 50%
No diff: 37%
yougov.co.uk/politics/art...
Fair: 21%
Unfair: 48%
Affordable: 22%
Unaffordable: 47%
Will leave country...
Better off: 9%
Worse off: 47%
No diff: 31%
Will leave self and family...
Better off: 3%
Worse off: 50%
No diff: 37%
yougov.co.uk/politics/art...
November 27, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Sigh. Not great if 3% say better off and still nearly 50% say unfair. So you lose on self-interest and on principle too. YouGov notes elsewhere only Truss mini budget had higher ‘unfair’ score since they started polling. almost as if govt doesn’t have a vision or message for most voters?
I’m afraid the BBC headline on Rachel Reeves’ Labour budget is rather apt and just about says it all. I suspect voters will feel a bold reset, finally responding to an electorate broadly convinced the country’s on the wrong track and clamouring for change, it ain’t. But why change course now?
Millions to pay more in tax as Reeves says Budget is tackling cost of living
The chancellor says she is
www.bbc.co.uk
November 26, 2025 at 11:40 PM
I’m afraid the BBC headline on Rachel Reeves’ Labour budget is rather apt and just about says it all. I suspect voters will feel a bold reset, finally responding to an electorate broadly convinced the country’s on the wrong track and clamouring for change, it ain’t. But why change course now?
Just sayin’: Danish Social Democrats lose Copenhagen for 1st time in 122 years. They could have done worse, but sign of a shift. Here’s a thought - why not do something *else for rural regions that doesn’t alienate the young, urban and diverse on principle?
#Mahmood #asylum #immigration #Labour
#Mahmood #asylum #immigration #Labour
Social Democrats in Denmark suffer sweeping election losses
PM Mette Frederiksen’s centre-left party loses control of Copenhagen for first time in more than 100 years
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Just sayin’: Danish Social Democrats lose Copenhagen for 1st time in 122 years. They could have done worse, but sign of a shift. Here’s a thought - why not do something *else for rural regions that doesn’t alienate the young, urban and diverse on principle?
#Mahmood #asylum #immigration #Labour
#Mahmood #asylum #immigration #Labour
Think anyone in Downing Street or UK Labour actually knows anyone in Denmark? Like who follows politics there? Too bad the Kinnock Thorning-Schmidts moved to Kilburn. A vote to watch!
Shabana Mahmood asylum refugee immigration policy
Shabana Mahmood asylum refugee immigration policy
www.politico.eu
November 18, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Think anyone in Downing Street or UK Labour actually knows anyone in Denmark? Like who follows politics there? Too bad the Kinnock Thorning-Schmidts moved to Kilburn. A vote to watch!
Shabana Mahmood asylum refugee immigration policy
Shabana Mahmood asylum refugee immigration policy
Fun fact #2: In the 2024 US Prez election, gender gap was *smaller* than 2020. That’s right, Kamala Harris *lost more votes from women*, compared to Biden, than from men!
Sure, gap still big and important in other ways, but been big on avg for decades and doesn’t explain why Biden won & Harris lost
Sure, gap still big and important in other ways, but been big on avg for decades and doesn’t explain why Biden won & Harris lost
November 18, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Fun fact #2: In the 2024 US Prez election, gender gap was *smaller* than 2020. That’s right, Kamala Harris *lost more votes from women*, compared to Biden, than from men!
Sure, gap still big and important in other ways, but been big on avg for decades and doesn’t explain why Biden won & Harris lost
Sure, gap still big and important in other ways, but been big on avg for decades and doesn’t explain why Biden won & Harris lost
I know it’s old news, but when I try to go on the other platform, this is literally what ‘my’ algorithm sends me! (And I assure I unfollowed/blocked as much as I could) Anyone for Orwell? 😂
November 16, 2025 at 11:32 PM
I know it’s old news, but when I try to go on the other platform, this is literally what ‘my’ algorithm sends me! (And I assure I unfollowed/blocked as much as I could) Anyone for Orwell? 😂
Fact to remember: In 2024 Harris did worse with Black voters than *any Dem this century*. And *better with white voters* than anybody except Al Gore and - Barack Obama! Of course race & racism matter, but no good reason to think Harris lost because of her race.
November 16, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Fact to remember: In 2024 Harris did worse with Black voters than *any Dem this century*. And *better with white voters* than anybody except Al Gore and - Barack Obama! Of course race & racism matter, but no good reason to think Harris lost because of her race.
Great piece – nearly 100% agree, tho I’d stress in ‘reshaping identity’ much is about groups who feel politically alienated from what they see as an ‘establishment’ that disrespects them. You know, like 1960s students critics of ‘technocracy’. So not just soulcraft from top down, also giving a say!
Misinformation *is* central to democratic problems today, but the solution is *not* to correct such epistemic failures directly. Instead, we must address them at their roots, in social identity.
Or so I argue in a new post for @apaphilosophy.bsky.social.
blog.apaonline.org/2025/11/12/t...
Or so I argue in a new post for @apaphilosophy.bsky.social.
blog.apaonline.org/2025/11/12/t...
The Problem is Epistemic. The Solution is Not. | Blog of the APA
Doubts about the wisdom of the masses are as old as philosophy itself. Yet interest in democracy’s “epistemic” merits has surged in the last decade—and it is no mystery why. Democracy is collapsing ar...
blog.apaonline.org
November 13, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Great piece – nearly 100% agree, tho I’d stress in ‘reshaping identity’ much is about groups who feel politically alienated from what they see as an ‘establishment’ that disrespects them. You know, like 1960s students critics of ‘technocracy’. So not just soulcraft from top down, also giving a say!
OK – just when news cycle was ‘Dems win’ for a few days some decided a better headline was ‘Dems give up’? I get the complexity and risks but now how do you run in 2026 on we’ll fight Trump for working people and not just give up the day after the election when he says no? How do you win back trust?
November 11, 2025 at 1:09 PM
OK – just when news cycle was ‘Dems win’ for a few days some decided a better headline was ‘Dems give up’? I get the complexity and risks but now how do you run in 2026 on we’ll fight Trump for working people and not just give up the day after the election when he says no? How do you win back trust?
What’s striking about Mamdani, Sherrill, and Spanberger is how *similar the campaigns were: 1 Stand up to Trump + 2 Affordability for working people (=v. Fed job cuts in VA, electricity prices in NJ, health costs all over). & they won w/ mostly the same voters: young, educated, minority & left
Exit polls: Election 2025 | CNN Politics
See exit polls data for the 2025 US elections. For more information on voting and election results, visit cnn.com/election.
edition.cnn.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:26 AM
What’s striking about Mamdani, Sherrill, and Spanberger is how *similar the campaigns were: 1 Stand up to Trump + 2 Affordability for working people (=v. Fed job cuts in VA, electricity prices in NJ, health costs all over). & they won w/ mostly the same voters: young, educated, minority & left
Lucy Powell’s win sends a message: 1) even die-hard Labour supporters want a course correction, 2) but most weren’t too excited about Powell either - turnout was 16.6%! Imagine if instead of talking about rotating personnel someone ran on a programme that spoke to voters?
October 25, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Lucy Powell’s win sends a message: 1) even die-hard Labour supporters want a course correction, 2) but most weren’t too excited about Powell either - turnout was 16.6%! Imagine if instead of talking about rotating personnel someone ran on a programme that spoke to voters?
& Caerphilly is *not a failure for Farage’s Reform - from 1.7% to 36%, & there’s no Welsh nationalist party to compete in most of UK. Solution isn’t to copy their programme - but it does start with seeing we’re on a cliff edge and need to stop talking only to the same limited circle of voters
October 24, 2025 at 7:14 PM
& Caerphilly is *not a failure for Farage’s Reform - from 1.7% to 36%, & there’s no Welsh nationalist party to compete in most of UK. Solution isn’t to copy their programme - but it does start with seeing we’re on a cliff edge and need to stop talking only to the same limited circle of voters
Afraid this was predictable: in a seat Labour held for a century they pulled 11% - almost exactly approval rating of the current government. Same exact trend in nearly all OECD democracies! What was that one about a river in Egypt?
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
yougov.co.uk/topics/polit...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
yougov.co.uk/topics/polit...
October 24, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Afraid this was predictable: in a seat Labour held for a century they pulled 11% - almost exactly approval rating of the current government. Same exact trend in nearly all OECD democracies! What was that one about a river in Egypt?
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
yougov.co.uk/topics/polit...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
yougov.co.uk/topics/polit...
Sure economics matters in politics, but not just ‘the economy’. Distrustful - & non-university - voters see policy as showing ‘which side are you on?’ Thus Trump’s tariffs, Mamdani’s rent freeze. Both register where Biden-Bernie soft-pedalled investment did not. It’s about trust, not ‘abundance’
October 17, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Sure economics matters in politics, but not just ‘the economy’. Distrustful - & non-university - voters see policy as showing ‘which side are you on?’ Thus Trump’s tariffs, Mamdani’s rent freeze. Both register where Biden-Bernie soft-pedalled investment did not. It’s about trust, not ‘abundance’
So sure, people on here know today at Quantico weakens institutions & rule of law, but isn’t the headline ‘Hegseth & Trump Insult the US Military?’ As in, 1st they came for immigrants, then for universities, Kimmel & Comey - but if you don’t care about any of them, at least respect our armed forces?
September 30, 2025 at 5:54 PM
So sure, people on here know today at Quantico weakens institutions & rule of law, but isn’t the headline ‘Hegseth & Trump Insult the US Military?’ As in, 1st they came for immigrants, then for universities, Kimmel & Comey - but if you don’t care about any of them, at least respect our armed forces?
Chart #4 UK elections: But here’s the kicker - it’s not ONLY non-metro & non-uni voters flocking to the far right. It’s now also the YOUNGEST voters fleeing traditional parties. And if many go left (or Lib), Reform is now SECOND behind Labour! Let that sink in
www.economist.com/interactive/...
www.economist.com/interactive/...
September 25, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Chart #4 UK elections: But here’s the kicker - it’s not ONLY non-metro & non-uni voters flocking to the far right. It’s now also the YOUNGEST voters fleeing traditional parties. And if many go left (or Lib), Reform is now SECOND behind Labour! Let that sink in
www.economist.com/interactive/...
www.economist.com/interactive/...
Chart #3, making sense of UK elections. 2nd big change is geographic: Reform now leads all regions outside urban centres like London (or Bristol), & Scotland – even historic left strongholds in the North or Wales. & confirmed in local elections. (see "by region") www.economist.com/interactive/...
September 24, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Chart #3, making sense of UK elections. 2nd big change is geographic: Reform now leads all regions outside urban centres like London (or Bristol), & Scotland – even historic left strongholds in the North or Wales. & confirmed in local elections. (see "by region") www.economist.com/interactive/...
Chart #2 to explain UK elections: You might know, Reform's lead is mostly because they dominate among blue-collar voters w/o university degrees. Reversing 100 yrs of workers leaning left 'til 2016 & shows Brexit was no blip (not just about the EU after all!)
www.economist.com/interactive/...
www.economist.com/interactive/...
September 22, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Chart #2 to explain UK elections: You might know, Reform's lead is mostly because they dominate among blue-collar voters w/o university degrees. Reversing 100 yrs of workers leaning left 'til 2016 & shows Brexit was no blip (not just about the EU after all!)
www.economist.com/interactive/...
www.economist.com/interactive/...
4 Charts to understand UK elections. #1: 'Overall Voting Intention' Of course headline is Farage's Reform is now consistenly far ahead – a first for a third party since polling began (& almost certainly since 1920s when Labour overtook Liberals – so in 100 years) www.economist.com/interactive/...
September 20, 2025 at 1:28 PM
4 Charts to understand UK elections. #1: 'Overall Voting Intention' Of course headline is Farage's Reform is now consistenly far ahead – a first for a third party since polling began (& almost certainly since 1920s when Labour overtook Liberals – so in 100 years) www.economist.com/interactive/...
4 charts to understand UK elections today. To catch up quick, if you haven't been following closely! Economist has some great tracker charts of a poll of polls with crosstabs. Of course all the standard caveats with polls (but still)! www.economist.com/interactive/...
September 20, 2025 at 1:13 PM
4 charts to understand UK elections today. To catch up quick, if you haven't been following closely! Economist has some great tracker charts of a poll of polls with crosstabs. Of course all the standard caveats with polls (but still)! www.economist.com/interactive/...
Hi all! Just starting out on here – my new research is about setting the rise of today's populist right in a longer, cross-national story of the history of modern democracy. Hoping to find some facts or perspective to help make sense of current events. Look forward to hearing from everybody!
September 19, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Hi all! Just starting out on here – my new research is about setting the rise of today's populist right in a longer, cross-national story of the history of modern democracy. Hoping to find some facts or perspective to help make sense of current events. Look forward to hearing from everybody!