A political shift decades in the making explains Trump’s grip on Congress

Research in PS: Political Science & Politics argues Republican members of Congress back Donald Trump’s agenda mainly because decades of geographic realignment aligned the party’s presidential and congressional electorates with the same voters, not chiefly fear of his popularity or social media attacks. Syracuse University’s Jeffrey M. Stonecash, the study author, says commentators overstate one-man intimidation and underplay this longer structural shift.