September 8, 2014

Every Single Thing You Need to Know About Gerrymandering and Republicans

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For some reason—boredom? coincidence? hot weather peevishness?—a bunch of bloggers today have been arguing about whether Republican control of the House is due to gerrymandering. I don’t get this. Gerrymandering is what it is. The best studies I’ve seen suggest that it accounts for 6-8 additional Republican seats. The rest of the Republican advantage is due to the incumbency effect; self-sorting; natural Democratic clumping in urban areas; and a few other minor things.

So: Is gerrymandering responsible for Republican control of the House? No. Is it partially responsible? Yes. What’s so hard about this?

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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