Maxwell School News

“If we can’t find a way to do decarbonization and climate policy, in addition to materially improving working people’s lives…I really do fear that a lot of working people aren’t going to be that sympathetic to the climate agenda,” says Matthew Huber, professor of geography and the environment.

“Trump seemed to bring almost every issue back to immigration and the harms he asserted were coming from that—that was obviously one of his main strategies. President Biden seemed to address different policy questions more in their own terms. He talked fast and in a staccato, hoarse whisper,” says Grant Reeher, professor of political science.

“In general, not a huge amount of change,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science. “Russia is on the front foot now because Ukraine is running out of ammunition, especially artillery. And this has to do with the hold up on the U.S. military assistance package in the U.S. Congress over the last half year.”

For Brian Taylor, professor of political science, the biggest take from the one-year anniversary is Ukraine is still standing. "A year ago a lot of people might not have expected that, given Russia’s size, the size of the population, the size of its army, the size of its economy," Taylor says.

"If people decide that they will vote for somebody, regardless of what they may have done in their past, that's one thing," says Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science. "But if they vote under the misconception that somebody is what they say they are and then they find out later when it's too late that [it] is wrong. That's a very different situation."

"If Lee Zeldin were to beat Kathy Hochul, that would be basically a political earthquake in the state of New York," Grant Reeher, professor of political science, tells WRVO. "That would change the whole complexion of how the state's politics are going to go in the next four years."

Professor Grant Reeher was interviewed for the CNY Central story, "Frontrunners in NY22 primary races benefit from financial support of national Super PACs" and the WRVO story, "New York’s 22nd district a race to watch on primary day."

Professor Grant Reeher was interviewed for the WRVO article, "Tenney drops bid for 23rd Congressional District, now running in new 24th district."

"It may be the Democrats have yet to find the balance they need between the left wing of their party and the rest of it," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science. "Biden struggled to balance these two camps. Republicans beat expectations, and with a more ‘presidential’ candidate at the top of the ticket, they could be well positioned in 2024."

“We made a simple letter directly for the property owner receiving it, from a person working for the city. The request, (needed) steps and personalized note were laid out to draw immediate attention,” describes Joseph Boskovski '14 M.P.A., a co-founder of the Maxwell X Lab.

Shana Gadarian defends negative political ads, "You actually learn more from negative ads than you do from positive ads because they do tend to focus more on policy and votes". A professor of political science, Gadarian was interviewed by WRVO.

"The situation we're in at this particular moment—in the Supreme Court and the American political system more broadly—is a moment of extreme partisan polarization which has clearly infected our other political institutions and has made its way into the court," says Tom Keck, professor of political science and Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics. 

Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher says in his experience, the incumbent or the candidate who expects to win wants to have a debate as close as possible to the Election Day and the challenger wants to have it earlier. 

According to Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher, the split primary doesn’t do much to help what generally dogs primary races, low voter turnout. "If you take that problem and you split the primary into two separate dates, you’ve compounded that problem even further, because you’ve asked people to come back and vote again, after they have voted in the federal primary," he says. 

"If...Dana Balter is hammering away at the idea that the 24th could play a role in flipping the House of Representatives, it may be harder for him [incumbent John Katko]," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute. "But he comes in with a lot of advantages, particularly if we look back at past elections."

"We won’t really know the effect of the tax plan for several years when we have data that we can try to measure the effect of the tax plan separate from other factors going on in the economy at the same time," says Len Burman, Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics.