Maxwell School News and Commentary

"I thought at some point, reality would come back in for people and they would have a hard time balancing their motivations to stay consistent with their partisanship with what's going on on the ground," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.  "That was wholly optimistic on my part."

Grant Reeher, professor of political science, says that Trump could be looking to recover after being largely criticized for his performance in the first presidential debate last month, where the candidates traded insults and crosstalk clogged much of the conversation. "I think there's more pressure on (Trump) to remedy that in terms of the way he comes across in this event," he says.

Professor Grant Reeher says that Trump's exaggerations of labeling Democrats as socialists and radicals are having little impact, and that, "after four years, voters are used to the hyperbole."

Osamah Khalil, associate professor of history and expert in Middle East affairs, says he views the announcement of the deal as an attempt to boost Trump and [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu, who both face intense political headwinds over their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and other matters.

Fred Carriere, research professor of political science, says that one of the major impediments to getting countries to denuclearize, whether the U.S., North Korea or Iran, is that "everybody always wants everything up front, with the promise that good things will follow later on, but few will ever be able to accept this strategy." 

Grant Reeher, professor of political science, says Biden could have a hard time getting enthusiastic support from former Sanders supporters due to his lengthy record—three decades of Senate votes and two terms in the White House as President Barack Obama's vice president.

"I don’t think the issue is likely to cause someone to vote for Trump instead of Biden," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science. "The problem is what it does for the level of enthusiasm for Biden among different constituencies, and the turnout for him. It could have a dampening effect there."

"Suppliers may not have been able to supply as much as was demanded because they needed to provide it to the local economy, and the Chinese factories were simply not operating," says Professor of Economics Mary Lovely. "Workers were not at work. They were at home. They were quarantined."

"Moscow views the Syrian civil war as a foreign-influenced crisis that threatens the broader Middle East region and its interests there and at home," says Osamah Khalil, associate professor of history.