Gallup: “More Americans continue to identify as Democrats or as ‘Democratic-leaning’ independents than as Republicans or ‘Republican-leaning’ independents. The current 47% to 42% Democratic edge is largely in line with what Gallup has measured over the past five years.”

Jonathan Rauch and Ray La Raja: “Americans rarely pause to consider just how bizarre the presidential nominating process has become. No other major democracy routinely uses primaries to choose its political candidates, nor did the Founders of this country intend for primaries to play a role in the republican system they devised.”

“Abraham Lincoln did not win his party’s nomination because he ran a good ground game in New Hampshire; rather, Republican elders saw in him a candidate who could unite rival factions within the party and defeat the Democratic nominee in the general election. Today’s system amounts to a radical experiment in direct democracy, one without precedent even in America’s own political history.”

Thomas Pepinsky: “For decades, Republicans and Democrats fought over the same things: Whose values and policies work best for American democracy. But now, those age-old fights are changing. What was once run-of-the-mill partisan competition is being replaced by a disagreement over democracy itself.”

“This is particularly evident as the president and many of his allies crow about the illegitimacy of the House impeachment inquiry, calling it an attempted coup, and as the White House refuses to comply with multiple congressional subpoenas as part of the probe.”

“This marks a new phase in American politics. Democrats and Republicans might still disagree about policy, but they are increasingly also at odds over the very foundations of our constitutional order.”

“Orange County, a region once associated with John Birch, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, is about to be home to more Democrats than Republicans,” the Orange County Register reports.

“At midnight, Aug. 6, the Registrar of Voters posted daily tracking figures showing just nine fewer registered Democrats than Republicans in Orange County, 547,385 vs. 547,394. Given that local Democrat registrations recently have outpaced Republicans by 50 to 100 a day, the flip is expected to become official when the Registrar posts new numbers later today.”