Given that Massachusetts is one of the deepest blue states, it makes sense that it would be firmly in the vanguard of the resistance to Trump. The challenge for the state’s all-Democratic congressional delegation is that the overall Massachusetts electorate is not exactly mounting the barricades.
News Analysis
Posted inBy The Numbers
Kerry Healey was right: We should talk about ‘overhoused’ seniors
As a new state commission recommends policies, programs, and investments to expand the supply of housing for seniors, devising strategies to help older adults move into smaller homes should also be on their agenda.
Posted inEducation
National scores show Mass. students leading – with big asterisks
Massachusetts 4th and 8th grade students placed first in the nation in math and reading, but that doesn’t change the fact that our scores have been sliding for years.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: The empty seat inside the State House press gallery
Is the Associated Press pulling back from coverage of the Massachusetts State House?
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: Maura Healey’s echo | Bitcoin strategic reserve?
There was talk of no new taxes, fixing the MBTA, and cutting red tape, all while avoiding direct references to Donald Trump.
Posted inState Government
Keenan’s stand for transparency
State Sen. John Keenan is hardly a rabble-rousing bomb thrower, a point that underscores how uncontroversial one might think it is to call for legislators to be given time to read bills before they come to the floor and for their votes on legislation to be recorded for their constituents and others to see.
Posted inBy The Numbers
To understand 2024 results, hindsight is not 2020
This year’s Massachusetts results are much more on par, in terms of turnout and outcome, with every other presidential election so far this century — other than 2020. In that way, they represent more of a reversion to the mean than a shift to the right.
Posted inMedia
CommonWealth Beacon’s new editor on public service journalism
Colarusso comes to CommonWealth after more than three years at Nieman Reports, which is the Harvard University Nieman Foundation magazine focused on the journalism industry.
Posted inNews Analysis
A feisty Deaton fights to claim middle ground
When John Deaton speaks, he wants voters to see Charlie Baker. Elizabeth Warren is trying to make sure they see a potentially decisive vote for whoever emerges as Mitch McConnell’s even harder right successor as Senate Republican leader.
Posted inPolitics
Harris with huge lead in deep-blue Massachusetts
Kamala Harris has a 28-point lead over Donald Trump in Massachusetts, according new polling, a dramatic increase in the Democratic margin compared with polling in March with President Biden at the top of the ticket.
Posted inNews Analysis
Polls can’t really tell us whether Biden has a better chance than anyone else
Democrats must choose a course based on a map that really only shows where they are now and a blurry, half erased outline of what might be the path if Biden stays in. People can make strong cases that he should stay — or go. None are necessarily wrong, but none are clearly right.
Posted inNews Analysis
On Biden future, Healey steps out
Gov. Maura Healey, a former two-term attorney general, has generally taken a cautious, lawyerly approach to politics, but she stepped out by becoming the first Democratic governor to suggest President Biden consider giving up his reelection run.
Posted inPolitics
Democrats tiptoe toward toppling a leader they like
Stopping a Trump return to the White House is something all Democrats agree on. The difficult question they now face is, which of the imperfect choices before them offers the best hope of doing that?
Posted inBy The Numbers
Massachusetts political parties are fading away
If current trends continue, party registration will be so unusual that a young registered Democrat will be an unusual sight and young Republicans will go on the endangered species list.
Posted inBy The Numbers
Is ‘somewhat safe’ good enough when it comes to transportation?
“Very” and “somewhat” responses are often grouped together, particularly when measuring support or opposition to a policy proposal or a public figure’s approval rating. But when it comes to safety, the question is whether feeling “somewhat safe” getting around is good enough?
Posted inBy The Numbers
Remote work declining, traffic is not
When a new poll for the
Barr Foundation asked those surveyed to name the top transportation issue facing Massachusetts, 39 percent cited issues with the existing public transportation network. That was the clear top item, followed by traffic congestion at 21 percent.
Posted inNews Analysis
Healey polling lower than Baker on transportation
For her handling of the T specifically, about as many gave Healey a D (17 percent), or an F (13 percent) as gave her an A (6 percent) or B (24 percent).
Posted inBy The Numbers
What regional differences reveal about Mass.
Poll results illuminate clear political regions within the state: Blue in Boston and its suburbs and in western Massachusetts; between them, a collar of red across central Massachusetts and wrapping north towards the New Hampshire border and down into the South Coast.
Posted inBy The Numbers
Troubling signs for Biden in deep blue Massachusetts
President Biden is looking shaky in the Bay State, where just 47 percent now say they approve of the job he is doing as president — 46 percent say they disapprove.
Posted inPolitics
An opportunity for the GOP in Central Massachusetts
This story has been updated to incorporate the results of the October 10 primary. THE HEADLINES AFTER the 2022 state election did not look good for the Massachusetts Republican Party. The […]
Posted inPolitics
Arroyo, Lara losses carry echo of past races
CHALK ONE UP for the goo-goos. Actually chalk two up. The term came into use in the late 1800s and early 1900s as a reference to good government reformers who […]
Posted inNews Analysis, State Government
Sending a message on Beacon Hill
WHEN THE HOUSE AND SENATE chairs of a joint legislative committee began holding hearings separately rather than together in mid-June, House Speaker Ron Mariano dismissed the notion that the dispute […]
Posted inTransportation
Healey’s competitiveness mantra collides with T reality
LIKE A WELL-OILED messaging machine, Maura Healey has had a one-word mantra to frame her early days as governor: competitiveness. It’s become her version of the stern advice given in […]
Posted inEducation
Reading the tea leaves on new education secretary’s charter vote
IN THE ENDLESS debate over charter schools, there is often a stark line dividing people into the pro-charter or anti-charter camp. Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler insists he occupies different ground. […]