The Voters Who Refuse to Surrender

Across the country, there are sparks of hope for democracy

As a sociologist, I spend a lot of time reading and thinking about an American electorate caught in a stress response. Freedom House and Brookings have documented a democratic decline in the USA, and I have to wonder what voters might do in this moment: fight, flee, or freeze?

No doubt a number of citizens feel paralyzed by the current state of political…