Gadarian Quoted in Los Angeles Times Piece on Highly Polarized 2022 Election

September 8, 2022

Los Angeles Times

Shana Kushner Gadarian

Political Science Department

Campbell Public Affairs Institute

Congress

Government

Political Parties

U.S. Elections

United States

Los Angeles Times

Shana Kushner Gadarian

Recent polls have shown some movement in Democrats' favor in the upcoming midterm election and one reason, according to election analysts, is that the GOP has not kept a relentless focus on Biden.

The missed opportunity is partially of the GOP’s own making. In key battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Arizona, Republican primary voters picked political novices for Senate who had embraced hardline positions. Those candidates have struggled to pivot to a more moderate general electorate, drawing the focus to themselves instead of Biden and their Democratic opponents.

“Candidate quality still matters in a deeply polarized electorate,” says Shana Kushner Gadarian, professor of political science and Merle Goldberg Fabian Professor of Excellence in Citizenship and Critical Thinking. “The party who wants to win is going to run more moderate candidates.”

Read more in the Los Angeles Times article, "A hyperpolarized, deeply fragile 2022 election: Democrats’ energy over Roe blunts GOP advantage."