With the Iowa caucuses only a few days away, the candidates for both the Democratic and Republican 2016 presidential nominations have found themselves in the midst of tight races. Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have sparred over issues such as health care, gun control, and affordable college education, while GOP contenders including Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have promised to crack down on undocumented immigrants and combat terrorism.

A number of RSF authors and grantees recently spoke to the press about these leading election issues. In an interview with the International Business Times, Arne Kalleberg, author of the RSF book Good Jobs, Bad Jobs and an incoming Visiting Scholar, commented on the Democratic candidates’ promises to raise wages and create jobs for the middle class. He noted that although 2015 saw modest job growth, wages have remained stagnant. “There’s been a growing divide,” said Kalleberg, “in the quality of jobs that people have. People are falling way behind.”

In interviews with the New York Times, RSF trustee Richard Thaler and RSF grantees Nicholas Bloom and David Autor discussed the persistence of economic inequality, which has emerged as the central focus of Sanders’s campaign. In one study, Bloom and his colleagues analyzed 35 years of Social Security data and found that most of the economic gains over the last few decades have been going to those at the very top of the income distribution. Even now, Thaler added, “It’s pretty much indisputable that the percentage of income being earned by the top 1 percent, or the top quarter of 1 percent, is going up.” Research by RSF grantees Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page—cited in a recent column by Nicholas Kristof—has further shown that the wealthy hold disproportionate influence over public policy, in part because politicians seeking office rely so heavily on fundraising.

Other RSF scholars discussed Donald Trump’s burst of popularity within the GOP. Visiting Scholar Tali Mendelberg, who has studied the role of race in politicians’ campaign strategies, told the New York Times that Trump has stoked racial fears among the GOP base. She added, “Republicans win largely with support from white voters, so they have incentives to rally their base around racial fears and resentments.”

Jim Sidanius, a former RSF Visiting Scholar and co-author of the book The Diversity Challenge, also noted that Trump’s appeal has hinged on his ability to fuel “the resentment and sense of loss” in a segment of the white electorate. Before Trump entered the race, Sidanius says, “nobody was there to exploit it, to pick out the marketing opportunity. This is Trump’s genius.”

Click here to view a complete list of RSF authors, scholars, and grantees in the news.