Campbell Institute News

The fellowship is made possible by generous gifts to the Astrid Merget Fund honoring two-time alumna and former associate dean of the Maxwell School Astrid Merget ’68 M.P.A./’73 Ph.D. (SSc).

“There have been so many things over the last couple of years that it is just impossible to point to one thing that is going to be a particular problem, or more of a problem than the rest,” says Grant Reeher, professor of political science.

"For [Elise] Stefanik, she is betting that the district will distinguish and appreciate the nuance of her approach toward the president— of supporting at a distance, in order to help with the district," says Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher.

"New York has some of the most restrictive laws that govern our elections of any state in the country" says Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science. She adds that New York is "one of the few states that doesn't have early voting and one of the few states that has very restrictive rules on changing on one's party registration," concluding that the state's electoral laws are "outdated."

Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science, found that relatively simple corrections could reduce some misperceptions by as much as 20 percentage points or more.

"My sense is that [Ayatollah] Khamenei is throwing [President] Rouhani under the bus, in a number of ways,” says Mehrzad Boroujerdi, professor of political science and expert on Iranian politics.

According to Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, the push for a single payer health system has gained traction as a "symbolic" issue for some Democrats who want to have a "positive alternative message" to efforts by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to dismantle Obamacare.

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. 

"Any period of American history where there's been intense political conflict, you can find severe breaches of etiquette," says Keith Bybee, professor of political science.

According to Elizabeth Cohen, associate professor of political science, "Customs and Border Protection is responsible for enforcement at the border and 100 miles in from any point on the border of the U.S., land and water. Eliminating ICE would not eliminate CBP or enforcement at the border."

 "He’s no Kennedy," Keith Bybee, professor of political science, says of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. "To the extent Kavanaugh disagrees with Kennedy...you’ll see the court change."

"One of the things that I think that women are responding to in this current political moment is both a realization of past wrongs and the real threat of a loss of status," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.

Tom Keck, professor of political science and Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics, says the nomination of Kavanaugh is part of a "generation-long effort to stack the Supreme Court." 

"Policing of tone, I don't think, is just atmospherics. It really is a way of conveying a different understanding of the respect that people are owed," says Keith Bybee, professor of political science.

Elizabeth Cohen, professor of political science, spoke to the New Books Network about her recently published book The Political Value of Time: Citizenship, Duration, and Democratic Justice.

"Perez Williams has higher name recognition than [Dana] Balter due to her previous run for mayor. She also has the support of the national party organization. But this is the kind of race in which the actual result might not match polling," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science.

"There's been no effort to even address that point. I can barely call what was articulated [on Monday by the president] a vision. It was more of just an expression. You know, that's about it," says University Professor Sean O'Keefe.