In the News: Shana Kushner Gadarian

"Partisanship is determining how citizens respond to COVID-19, and this divided response puts every American at risk," Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science, and her co-authors write. "If America’s political elite cannot come together, the costs of COVID-19 will be disproportionately felt in those places where Republicans did not act." 

"The divide in anxiety along partisan lines is very troubling," and that it is "likely to continue until the president and conservative media allow the health experts to lead the messaging," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.

Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science, along with Bethany Albertson of the University of Texas, discussed their book "Anxious Politics: Democratic Citizenship in a Threatening World," and how it can help explain the current public health crisis. 

Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science, says that it’s still early to declare an official front-runner in the Democratic presidential primary.

Shana Gadarian, associated professor of political science, Joined WAER's Syracuse Speaks show to discuss the importance of local elections and voter engagement, amid historically low turnout rates in local elections. Central New Yorkers face issues that decide key policy like tax rates, education policy, and district lines this year.

"This is bigger than a partisan fight," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science. "This is really about the nature of what is the presidency and what can it be used for."

Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science, says the fact that Trump has turned immigration into such a partisan issue has likely increased support for immigrants among many Americans. "On the whole, people’s attitudes have become more supportive of immigration," she says.

"Politicians are always looking to avoid blame," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science. "It's not surprising that the IRS is one of the agencies where people are now going back, because people do notice if they don't get their tax refunds on time. What this is doing is to try and get the public to not notice, to smooth over some of the bumps we'll see if the shutdown continues much longer." 

"All of this language about fake news and ‘you can’t trust the FBI,’ all of that is setting up a scenario where the Mueller investigation comes out and (Trump) says ‘it’s not to be believed’ and that Mueller is just working for the Democrats," says Shana Gadarian, professor of political science, in a WFAA article about President Trump's delegitimization of the Mueller probe.

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.

"One of the things we know about negative ads is they have more policy information than positive ads which tend to be more about the candidate's background," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.

"It was just another, additional piece of evidence for Democratic voters and particularly Democratic women that...women are not valued as much as men and they aren't to be believed, and they don't matter," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science. 

"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.

Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science, says those who pay attention to politics tend to be more partisan and often set aside information they find inconsistent with their beliefs. "To the extent that you like this administration," she says, "you might say this is just the way business is done. This isn’t a concern."

Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science, argues that stereotypes are a difficulty of a two-party system in which people who disagree with some of the views of their party have two options -- change attitudes or switch parties.

A new book by political scientist Shana Gadarian explores how anxiety over public threats affects the political arena.

"Emotions can cause us to care about foreign policy, and they can also fundamentally shape the types of policies that citizens want. Emotions change our decision-making calculus," finds Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science, and her co-author.

According to Shana Kushner Gadarian, associate professor of political science, "Images matter. The emotions that you evoke really do have implications for how the public feels about whether or not they are safe, what kinds of beliefs they want to support, and their feelings about fellow citizens and whether or not they want to take liberties away from fellow citizens."