U.S. government shutdown ends, but new deadline looms for 'Dreamers' deal

Lee Drutman was cited in an article in The Globe and Mail about the new Dreamers debate.

Experts say that the dividing line between the two parties is no longer so much a question of economic policy as issues of identity. Under Mr. Trump, the Republican Party has largely embraced a nationalist message squarely aimed at white voters. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has become the natural home of minority voters and educated urbanites repelled by Mr. Trump's message.

"The central challenge of governing in this moment is that you have two parties that are more and more caught up by the question of what is American identity," said Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at the Washington-based think tank New America. "That creates more and more zero-sum issues."

Both parties now view immigration as a "core motivating issue for their base," Mr. Drutman said. "That's something new about our politics."