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Image of a hand lowering a voter registration sheet into an orange box with stacks of voter registration papers on both sides

Threats to Ballot Access: New Report Examines Risks of Wrongful Voter Removals Across the Country

Dēmos examines ballot access issues, voter suppression in AZ, GA, OH, CA, IN, WI, MI, NC, TX, LA 

Press release/statement
August 10, 2023

We are changing the conversation around our democracy and economy by telling influential new stories about our country and its people. Get our latest blog and media updates here. For more in-depth explorations and analyses, visit our Resources page.

Featured
Ground level view of the Wall Street Stock Exchange

Unfinished Business: Revisiting Dodd-Frank and the Path to Economic Progress

On the anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act, we reflect on recent banking failures and the inequities inherent in our current financial system. 

Blog
Daniella Zessoules
Black mother and daughter looking at the city river

A Supreme Court Power Grab: Attacking Federal Agencies to Advance an Extremist Agenda

Why the Court's decision to limit the EPA's power to regulate water access is yet another case of eroding the power of the other branches of government at the expense of Black and brown people.

Blog
Ashley Tjhung
supreme court

Supreme Court's Rejection of Affirmative Action Widens the Divide: Dēmos Calls for Renewed Efforts to Combat Systemic Racism

“The 14th Amendment is supposed to be a shield against racism, and now it’s being used as a sword.” 

Press release/statement
Taifa Smith Butler

Should Employers Be Allowed to Run Credit Checks on Job Applicants?

Regardless of the rationale behind these credit checks, this practice can be discriminatory, say Daniel Garodnick and Amy Traub in the New York Daily News. For instance, "African-American and Latino households are disproportionately likely to report poor credit, a finding some attribute to the nat
In the media
Carmel Lobello

Why Colleges Give Aid So Much Aid to Wealthy Students

Let's say you're president of a presitigous liberal arts college with a nice endowment and you have enough money to give out a decent level of financial aid every year. How do you deploy that aid? Do you a) focus it on smart lower income kids who wouldn't be able to come to your college without aid
Blog
David Callahan

The Long Shadow of Bad Credit in a Job Search

Mr. Panesso was rejected for jobs at several more big national retail chains. But J. Crew, he said, was the only business to send him an adverse action letter. Did that mean the others rejected his application for other reasons? It’s impossible to know for sure.
In the media
Gary Rivlin

The Dark Truth About the Heritage Foundation

For forty years now, it has been fighting against the forces of modernization -- including individualism, social freedom, secularism, multiculturalism, ecological consciousness, and evidence-based active government.
Blog
David Callahan

Young, In Debt, and Not Spending

Getting Americans to borrow and spend lots of money can produce a nice economic sugar high, as we saw during the Bush years. But the party can't last forever and, eventually, heavy debt servicing acts as a drag on the economy. After all, the more money that debtors are forking over to banks every
Blog
David Callahan

Report: US Taxpayers Underwrite Large Pool of Low-Wage Jobs

Big businesses, such as Wal-Mart and McDonalds, get a bad wrap for providing low-wage jobs. But, Americans may be surprised to know that they're funding a low-wage labor pool larger than both of these companies combined do, a new report by Demos, a public policy organization, shows.
In the media
Michelle Smith

Pennsylvania's Misguided Assets Test for SNAP

If Congress doesn't succeeed in gutting SNAP benefits through the Farm Bill, which now proposes sweeping cuts to food stamps, it seems various state legislatures will do whatever they can to get that job done. A few weeks ago, I wrote about North Carolina's proposed background checks for SNAP
Blog
Ilana Novick

Demand More from Walmart

For several years, Walmart has placed or tied for last among department and discount stores in the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The situation for the workers is even less satisfying. Hundreds went on strike on Black Friday last fall. With the backing of the United Food and Commercial
In the media
Dave Anderson

Union to Banks: Pay Up

The banks have systematically figured out how to rip off the government,” Lerner says. Part of that ripoff was the LIBOR scandal, which had a “massive consequence on everything,” according to Wallace Turbeville, a former Goldman Sachs employee and current senior fellow at nonpartisan think tank
In the media
Sarah Jaffe

Good Jobs Nation: How to Reform Government Contracting to Pay Living Wages

My name is Roxanne Mimms and I work for a food service contractor at the National Zoo. I work full time but make barely minimum wage. I’m here because workers can’t live off what contractors pay us. I’m here because I don’t want my two children to grow up on public assistance. I’m here because I
Blog
Amy Traub