Avik Roy

FREOPP Verified account @FREOPP · May 6

Taxpayers spend $150 billion per year on student financial aid. A quarter of that debt will never be repaid, and it's taxpayers rather than the colleges who will absorb the loss.

@Avik and @JustinWStapley outline how Congress can implement accountability: freopp.org/whitepapers/hi…

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Daniel Lippman @dlippman · 9h

SCOOP: Heritage has ousted one of its top scholars, Robert Rector, the intellectual architect of welfare reform who had challenged Heritage head Kevin Roberts last yr for his defense of Tucker Carlson. He had been w/ Heritage since 1984. (W/ @joshgerstein) politico.com/news/2026/11/0…

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Charles Fain Lehman Verified account @CharlesFLehman · 2d

The nativist right has invented its own way to put its ideological predilections over actually winning.

Me for @compactmag: compactmag.com/article/agains…

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Erick Erickson Verified account @EWErickson · 4d

Made Grok and Claude hash out the exit poll data to get a more complete picture of voter sentiment. Notably, they concluded Iran was an accelerant on issues, but not actually the top issue. Their concurrent conclusions actually mirror a lot of public opinion polling that was showing up in the weeks before the election.

1Cost of living and inflation. 79% say inflation caused their family severe or moderate hardship. 62% blame higher prices more on Trump's policies than on factors beyond his control. 65% say his policies worsened the economy, against 27% who say they improved it. 75% rate the economy poor, 44% say they are worse off than two years ago, and 39% named the economy the top issue. BBC · AP via PBS · NBC

2Tariffs. 64% say tariffs hurt the national economy (D 78–19), and 63% say they hurt their local economy (D 79–18). Only 15% say tariffs helped their area. That is the most lopsided policy verdict in the poll, and voters judged it by their own towns. NBC

3Government corruption. 90% called it a crucial or major factor. About half called it "crucial," a larger share than for immigration, Iran, or AI, and about 6 in 10 say Trump puts his own interests first. About 4 in 10 voters who called it crucial still went Republican. BBC

4The Iran war and fuel costs. 63% say the attack was the wrong decision, against 37% who say it was right. 74% called the war a crucial or major factor, though only about a third called it crucial. 59% are "very concerned" about gas and diesel prices. Gas averaged $4.15, about $1.11 above a year earlier, and diesel averaged $6.29. About a quarter of Republicans say the war was wrong. BBC

5Democracy and checks on Trump. 32% named the state of democracy the top issue, and about 8 in 10 of them voted Democratic. About 7 in 10 say Congress isn't checking the President enough, including about 4 in 10 Republicans. 43% voted to oppose Trump and 16% to support him. His approval stood at 38%. BBC

6Immigration (the GOP's floor). 14% named it the top issue. Republicans kept a small edge on the issue, and it mattered more to Republican voters. Even so, 57% say enforcement has gone too far. BBC

7Healthcare. Democrats held a wide advantage here, but few voters named it the top issue.

8AI and data centers. It ranked below corruption and cost of living, and voters split on which party handles AI better. 61% opposed new data centers near them.

Context: 38% of voters were angry and 37% dissatisfied. By group:
•Women went D 58–40.
•Voters under 45 went roughly two-thirds D.
•Hispanic voters went D 62–35.
•College graduates went D 62–36.
•Non-college voters went R only 51–47.
•White voters went R only 51–48.

Just under half view Democrats favorably, against about 4 in 10 for the GOP.

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