Maxwell School News

The 2020 presidential candidate and former hedge fund manager visited the Maxwell School as part of the inaugural Sustainable Syracuse series. 

An Economist/YouGov poll last week asked respondents whether or not they wanted Trump to run for president again in 2024. A resounding 57 percent said no, while just 30 percent said yes. “That is the lane” for other Republican candidates says Grant Reeher, professor of political science.

“This is not the end of what may happen,” says Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science. “It may in fact be the beginning. We've never seen this before, and I don't think we can dismiss it as a partisan political act. Certainly, there have been other presidents who have had strong opposition in the past and yet they have not faced this kind of jeopardy.”

"Selecting our nation’s leaders is becoming increasingly complex and challenging, but we can make it more effective by ensuring the processes—for elections as well as appointments—reinforce democracy rather than erode our confidence in it," says James-Christian Blockwood, adjunct professor in Maxwell's Washington programs.

"Nikki Haley has to negotiate the very thin line between differentiating herself from Donald Trump and still appealing to—or not alienating herself from—his supporters, who still constitute the vast majority of CPAC activists and GOP primary participants," says Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science.

“If Republicans get in the mindset of, ‘The first attribute we need is the ability to beat Joe Biden,’ then she becomes a very attractive candidate,” says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute.

"If Trump, unable to accept losing, ignored the available evidence confirming the election’s integrity and really believed it was fraudulent, then his dearth of intellectual honesty renders him cognitively incompetent to hold the most powerful office in the world," says Dana Radcliffe, adjunct professor of public administration and international affairs.

"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."

"The Problem with Primaries," written by Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of public administration and international affairs, was published in American Purpose. "To free political parties from fringe candidates, we need to eliminate primaries that favor extremes," says Barton.

“The state level is probably where abortion rights advocates will need to work, and have had some success in the last year,” says Shana Gadarian, professor of political science.

Maxwell professors Chris Faricy, Shana Gadarian, Jenn Jackson and Sean O'Keefe participated in the Campbell Lecture, “After the Election: Assessing the Midterms,” on Nov. 17. Grant Reeher, director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, moderated the discussion.

There is a "mismatch between policies about abortion and attitudes about abortion at the state level," Shana Gadarian, professor of political science, tells Axios.  While opinions around abortion are "relatively nuanced," even "Republican voters tend to be more pro-choice than the policies that we're seeing in Republican states," Gadarian adds.

“That seems to be what the outcome was—it was a non-outcome outcome. Maybe that’s not the worst thing in the world because I think we do need a presidential election year in which to try to establish some kind of direction on this,” Grant Reeher, professor of political science, tells CNN.

“This is not the kind of thing that is done unilaterally by people in counties,” Ryan Griffiths, associate professor of political science, tells the New York Post. “They have to get the state of Oregon on board and the state of Idaho, and that’s a very high bar.”

“With new lines being drawn, it injects a lot of uncertainty into the race,” Chris Faricy, associate professor of political science, tells WAER. “With Katko not being on the ballot, we have two new candidates who have to introduce themselves to the voters of Central New York.”

If Republicans gain control of the House, the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol—which recently issued a legal summons ordering Trump to testify—could be dismantled. "He'll claim that vindicates him," Grant Reeher, professor of political science, tells the BBC.

"This is business as usual," Sean McFate, adjunct professor in the Maxwell-in-Washington program, tells Federal Times. "It’s a form of corruption, essentially. It’s a well-known problem without a solution."

"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."

“Jan. 6 was one of the most palpable, visible and clear challenges to organized government that we’ve seen in the past few generations,” Jenn Jackson, assistant professor of political science, tells TheGrio.

Voters often respond to major news events and how those events are framed in the media, however, the news around abortion and immigration were very different events, Elizabeth Cohen, professor of political science, tells Newsweek.