In the News: Grant Reeher

"The forces he is up against are much bigger than President Trump and are tectonic in nature. There are a set of forces that push us apart rather than bring us together," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science. But, he adds, "I do think having a period of time for the country to experience the absence of the daily melodrama of the Trump presidency will help."

Under Biden, New York state could find itself having a much more responsive federal government, and a number of Democrats, not just Cuomo, could be among the beneficiaries, says Grant Reeher, professor of political science.

"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."

"I think the main thing for Biden at this point is to simply show up and get through the event without a major breakdown of some kind," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science. Most viewers are already locked in with their preferred candidate, he adds.

In an increasingly polarized political climate, Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher says the "friends and neighbors" effect of politics hasn't been so effective in recent cycles, and that it's unclear how strongly that message can sway voters in 2020. 

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 of Political Science Grant Reeher says that "Joe Biden is so old, that he may not finish out his term, and Donald Trump is also almost as old as Biden, but also has these health issues now that we don't know where they are going to go, and how severe they are going to be."

"I think the tone of things would shift quickly if Biden were elected," Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher says. He adds that there would be "more pushback" if Biden and Democrats actually pushed adding seats to the Supreme Court forward.

"I do think it is clear, after almost four years of his presidency, that editorial choices...are very clearly very critical of the president [Donald Trump]," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute.

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."

"The conventions this year might actually be more important than in relatively recent years past since the campaigns are very constrained in what they can do in person," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science. "Those in-person events would normally drive a lot of the media coverage in the last few months of the campaign. But that is only if people watch the conventions."

Grant Reeher, professor of political science, says that while Trump had said much worse than Biden in terms of "levels of offensiveness or levels of insensitivity or thoughtlessness," the peril for the Democrat lay in a somewhat different area. "It is less clear that Biden is saying those things on purpose." 

"If the public is fundamentally dissatisfied with where the country is going, that is also going to open up opportunities for different political messages—and different political messengers—to tap that dissatisfaction in different ways," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute.

"At this point, it is just completely baffling to me,” says Grant Reeher, professor of political science, of President Trump's decision to hold his campaign rally in Tulsa, the site of one of the worst racial massacres in modern U.S. history back in 1921. "He is going all-in on ‘Law and Order’ and rejecting the very premise of the protests and sticking it in your eye."

When asked how hard it would be for any incumbent to overcome low voter satisfaction figures, Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher says, "If we’re going by the history, the answer is 'very difficult.'" He claims that voter satisfaction has always been a key indicator of the incumbent party's likelihood of winning reelection.

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.

The polarization of American life had been going on for years before Trump was even a political figure, says Grant Reeher, professor of political science. But, "what is different now [the COVID-19 pandemic], and what gives this a sharper edge is the fact that emotions are running so high."