Insecure majorities will ensure that the Senate remains gridlocked for the foreseeable future

Despite the intent of the Framers of the US Constitution that the US Senate would be a place for measured deliberation, it has now become nearly as partisan and gridlocked as the US House of Representatives. In new research, Jeremy Gelman finds that party members in the Senate are more likely to vote with their party when they believe the majority party will lose power in the next elections. The rise of insecure majorities in the Senate, he writes, means that partisan agendas and a lack of compromise are here to stay.