Ember Duke | layout editor

While the public looks back at a divisive election cycle and into the upcoming presidential turnover, the Political Science Department and the Political Science Club hosted an open forum to address student questions and concerns on Nov. 14.

The forum was led by political science professors Clifford Bob, Mark Haas and Nicole Loncaric and moderated by Katelyn Waranavage, president of Political Science Club.

Each professor presented some post-election thoughts to warm up the audience, then moved into a question and answer session where several students participated with a range of inquiries.

How we got here: election results and campaign strategies

The professors debriefed the trends in this election cycle and what factors led to Trump’s win.

Bob said a lot of it came down to campaign narrative — particularly around the Democratic Party’s rhetoric that Trump is dangerous for democracy. He said the idea that Trump is a fascist did not resonate with most Americans and that by hinging their arguments on this, the Democrats disserviced themselves.

“People looked at their experience of the 2016-2020 period and didn’t see a fascist,” Bob said to the audience. “They saw a very different kind of president from what we’ve seen in the past. They saw someone who alienated a lot of people … who broke certain so-called norms … But they didn’t see this as a threat to democracy.”

Republicans also gained control of Congress.

This might be because of a shift in voter appeal. Formerly, Democrats were seen as the party of the working class, but they have switched focus to college educated and richer demographics, Bob said.

“Democrats have smoothly abandoned the working class,” Bob said.

This sentiment has been also corroborated by some Democrat politicians. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, said in a statement the day after the election that, “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned the working class has abandoned them.”

“There was a perception, and certainly the Trump campaign promoted this, that the Democrats cared more about other countries than about the United States,” Bob said in response to a question posed by Darius Lewis, a political science major.

Lewis pointed out that the Harris campaign based messaging on Child Tax Credit, $50,000 tax deduction for small businesses and $25,000 credit for first time home buyers.

“Interesting to get their point of view out of class,” Lewis told The Duke. He said he was concerned about the Department of Education and student loans.

Trump swept the board, winning all seven battleground swing states. Loncaric predicts the Democrats will reassess their campaigning strategy.

“Expect from now until it’s probably the midterms … interesting conversations happening within the Democratic Party,” Loncaric said.

Bob said in response to a student question that the Democrats affiliation with Republicans like the Cheneys “did alienate some of the more radical Democrats out there.”

Loncaric said that most centrists still lean toward one ideology or the other.

With his two impeachments, pending felony conviction and non-consecutive terms, Trump is not the traditional candidate, which made this election unique, Loncaric said. However, she said a lot was still typical such as an unpopular incumbent and voter concern over the economy.

“The Republican party was really able to capitalize on that inflation and create a strong argument that they were better suited to handle the economy in this next term,” Loncaric said.

What’s at stake?

While Loncaric said the Department of Education would be hard to dismantle, considering that school funding often comes from state taxes, Trump may be more concerned with guiding or regulating what students learn about.

“It’s a lot harder to dismantle an entire government agency dispersed so widely across the states,’ Loncaric said. “President-elect Trump … [is] particularly concerned about issues of gender and race and what’s being taught in the school.”

As for reproductive rights, Trump left abortion regulation to the states in his first term. Bob feels it’s unlikely Trump would try to enact a national abortion ban and that the restriction on abortion is led by the right wing religion.

“[Trump supporters] see him as a pathway … to more overt support of Christianity,” Haas said in response.

Climate concern did not sway voters, said Bob.

“For working class people, I think climate policy is seen as very expensive as dealing with an issue that’s far in the future,” Bob said.

America’s international position: foreign policy and immigration

Haas said Trump’s “America First” slogan is telling of his international intentions even when exact policy details are sparse. He believes there will be a retreat from internationalism and international policy, especially liberal international policy, in Trump’s second term.

Trump’s penchant for militarization and closed borders are part of his international ideals, Haas said.
No other country would get “special priority,” rather it would be a nationalist agenda, Haas said.

“It’s going to be a national agenda, not an international one,” Haas said. “[Trump is] a transactional person, meaning how we relate with states can be on a case by case basis.”

These cases may regard trade, tariff’s or involvement in foreign wars.

“This is the irony of the class argument … tariffs raise costs on ordinary people,” Haas said. “He did it in his first term against friendly and unfriendly countries.”

He said that tariffs are part of how Trump “fundamentally sees’ economics and expects he will impose tariffs again in this term.

Bob said he expects Trump will close down the borders again as he did in his first term.

Anya Clougherty, the social media manager for Political Science Club, said the forum was an opportunity to bring academic perspectives to political conversations, as opposed to people sourcing information from social media.

Clougherty said the professors “don’t let personal beliefs influence answers,” which made for an open discussion.