At a time of potential danger to American democratic norms and institutions, it is more urgent than ever for scholars to highlight the risks to our system of government. In this spirit, Bright Line Watch brings together a group of political scientists to monitor democratic practices, their resilience, and potential threats.
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Violence, redistricting, and democratic norms in Trump’s America
In recent months, the Trump administration has continued to challenge executive branch norms as well as legal and constitutional limits on the powers of the presidency, including dramatically expanding the capacity and activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deploying the military to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. A Republican effort to change congressional district maps to gain five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 election was enacted in Texas, prompting California Democrats to develop a redistricting plan to offset those losses. Most recently, the conservative activist and commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a public event at a Utah university, prompting a nationwide debate over political violence and free speech.
In this context, we fielded parallel surveys of 703 political science faculty at American colleges and universities (whom we refer to as “experts” below) and a representative sample of 2,750 Americans (whom we refer to as “the public” below). The expert survey was fielded from September 5–17, 2025 and the public survey from September 5–16, 2025.
October 2025
Bright Line Watch in the media
After Trump’s Victory, Republicans Trust the Election System Again
by Charles Homans at The New York Times, 12/17/2024
Why Do So Many Americans Believe Fake News?
by F.D. Flam at Bloomberg, 10/23/2024
‘Same playbook’: Voting falsehoods mire US election by Daniel Funke at AFP, 10/23/2024
Opinion | America Is Playing With Fire by Thomas B. Edsall at The New York Times, 10/23/2024
Republicans and Democrats Believe Their Candidate Will Win—By a Lot
by Stephanie Mencimer at Mother Jones, 10/17/2024
by Francis Wilkinson at Bloomberg, 10/17/2024
by Philip Bump at The Washington Post, 7/11/2024
by Philip Bump at The Washington Post, 7/01/2024